diff --git a/tycho-packaging-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/tycho/packaging/PackagePluginMojo.java b/tycho-packaging-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/tycho/packaging/PackagePluginMojo.java
index 35ecba1c94..59b3abbc49 100644
--- a/tycho-packaging-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/tycho/packaging/PackagePluginMojo.java
+++ b/tycho-packaging-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/tycho/packaging/PackagePluginMojo.java
@@ -201,7 +201,11 @@ private File makeJar(BuildOutputJar jar) throws MojoExecutionException {
 			File jarFile = new File(project.getBasedir(), jarName);
 			JarArchiver archiver = new JarArchiver();
 			archiver.setDestFile(jarFile);
-			archiver.addDirectory(jar.getOutputDirectory());
+			File outputDirectory = jar.getOutputDirectory();
+			if (!outputDirectory.mkdirs() && !outputDirectory.exists()) {
+				throw new IOException("creating output directory " + outputDirectory.getAbsolutePath() + " failed");
+			}
+			archiver.addDirectory(outputDirectory);
 			if (customManifest != null) {
 				for (File sourceFolder : jar.getSourceFolders()) {
 					File manifestFile = new File(sourceFolder, customManifest);