The IAF has close to 100 Jaguar IS and 8 maritime strike Jaguar IM aircraft, which are capable of carrying nuclear weapons. IAF got the first batch of Jaguar jets in 1979.

Stationed at Ambala, Gorakhpur and Jamnagar, the twin-engine, single-seater deep penetration strike aircraft of Anglo-French origin operates at Mach 1.3 and has two 30mm guns and can carry two R-350 Magic CCMs (overwing) along with 4,750 kg of external stores (bombs/fuel).

Even though India is modernising its current Jaguar fleet, it will be phased out soon after the Medium Combat Aircraft enters mass production in 2015. The MCA is a 5th generation fighter aircraft being developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the state-owned military plane maker, started upgrading 68 'deep penetration' Jaguars in 2008 with modern avionics in a contract valued more Rs 2,400 crore that will increase the life and efficacy of the fighter planes.

These 68 planes were among the first lot of Jaguars produced at its Bangalore factory by HAL under licence from BAE Systems Plc, (then known as British Aerospace). It had closed the Jaguar assembly line twice before opening it in 2000, to make 37 such planes.