In October 2006, the Sea Harriers completed 22 years of service in the Indian Navy. This venerable & nimble aircraft continues to serve as the frontline fleet air defence fighter of the IN. The claws of the White Tigers have been sharpened over the years, to keep up with the latest in naval warfare and the most recent upgrade includes the Elta EL/M-2032 multimode fire control radar which replaced the Ferranti Blue Fox non-coherent pulse radar, the Derby BVRAAM (Beyond Visual Range Air to Air Missile) from Israeli firm Rafael, combat manoeuvring flight recorders and digital cockpit voice recorders. The Sea Harriers are planned to be progressively phased out by 2012 or at the latest by 2015 and their fleet role will be taken over by the state-of-the-art MiG-29K multirole naval fighter, the first of which are arriving in June 2007. These photographs were taken on 10 February 2006, at INS Dega in Visakhapatnam, during the Presidential Fleet Review at the Eastern Naval Command [ENC].

Photographs © Mrityunjoy Mazumdar and Simon Watson