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Newsletter 21
Summer 2008
Updated on 29Aug2008
Published by the Hawker Association
for the Members.
Contents © Hawker Association

Contents
Editorial
American Awards
Doctor Michael Pryce
Farnborough Airport
Hawker Thoroughbreds
Hawker's TSR.2 - P.1129
Joseph White
Members
My Life with Hawkers
News of Future RN Carrier
News of Harrier
News of Hawk
News of JSF
Programme
RAF Club Camm Memorial
Summer Barbecue
Two Good Years at Kingston
Harrier News
 
    There are eight Harriers on the front line at Kandahar in Afghanistan where they must be kept operational all day, every day. The aircraft are deployed from RAF Cottesmore for six to eight months and after 720 flying hours they are returned to base for maintenance, upgrades and UORs (urgent operational requirements) such as the Sniper pod.
    Qinetiq has been awarded a Ministry of Defence contract to oversee and approve upgrades to the Harrier fleet until it goes out of service in 2018. The GR9, serving with the RAF and the RN, will be replaced by the F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter which is due to enter service in 2012.
Future RN Carrier News

    The BAE Systems and the VT (Vosper Thorneycroft) Group joint venture, BVT, a key part of the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, has been awarded the contract for the Royal Navy's new aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, to be the largest naval vessels ever built in Britain. On 3 July  the Minister for defence equipment and Support, the Rt. Hon. Baroness Taylor, signed the contract covering the programme management, shipbuilding, integration and trials of the two carriers, on board HMS Ark Royal in Portsmouth. The Chief Executive of the newly formed BVT is Alan Johnston, formerly Managing Director of Augusta-Westland. It is planned that the F-35B will operate from the new carriers