Britain supplies nuclear bombers to India

Britain is continuing to help India build and upgrade Jaguar aircraft which are likely to be used as nuclear bombers.

The Jaguar aircraft is in service with a number of airforces around the world including the RAF and Indian Airforce. In the past some British Jaguar's were nuclear capable. This is no longer the case as all RAF nuclear weapons have been replaced by Trident.

The Indian Airforce initially purchased Jaguars from British Aerospace. More recently they have been building the aircraft under licence in India. Some aircraft are still under construction in India and others are being upgraded. Although the airframes are being built in India some of the electronics are being supplied from Britain.

India has designed and tested long range missiles. It is likely that they have developed nuclear warheads for these missiles. However it is easier to design bombs which can be dropped from aircraft than missile warheads. It has been suggested that the Indian Government may rely primarily on nuclear bombs which can be dropped by aircraft. Although the India Airforce deploys a range of aircraft produced in various countries, the most obvious aircraft to use in a nuclear role are the Jaguars.

In response to a Parliamentary question in April this year the British government admitted that India could adapt its Jaguars for a nuclear role.