A Jungle Cat for the Cold War and Beyond

摘要

The Sepecat Jaguar was introduced in to UK and French service early in the 1970s to fulfil a variety of attack roles and give both services a much needed modern combat aircraft. For France it meant being able to withdraw a number of obsolete types not only to protect Metropolitan France but to support extensive post-colonial obligations in Africa. For Britain it meant another step in redressing the damage caused by the 1957 Defence White Paper's erroneous assumption that guided missiles would replace manned combat aircraft, especially when the country was hardly then (or since) a world leader in home grown missile technology. Procurement of the McDonnell F-4 Phantom had begun to redress the balance by temporarily replacing both Canberra and Hunter in the Interdiction, Ground Attack, Reconnaissance and Strike (a euphemism for nuclear) roles especially with those units in RAF Germany (RAFG). However in time it would be needed to replace the Lightning in the Air Defence role in the absence of the magic missile solution proposed in 1957. Jaguar, originally proposed as a an Anglo-French advanced trainer but developed instead as an attack aircraft would provide the answer by meeting the attack/strike/ reconnaissance requirement and releasing Phantom for Air Defence.