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Newsletter 24
Summer 2009
Updated on 20May2009
Published by the Hawker Association
for the Members.
Contents © Hawker Association

Contents
Editorial
AGM
Cygnet News
F-35B Lightning II News
Folland Spirit Of Hamble
Harrier News
Hawk News
Hawkers In The 1950s
Hawkers in The Late 1930s
Hurricane News
Members
Programme
R&D Department
Tempest News
Testing V/STOL Projects
World War 2 Experiences
 
    The £165 million Design & Development Contract, signed in December 2004, for the RAF Hawk Mk.128 AJT (Advanced Jet Trainer) has been completed "on time and on budget", according to BAE Systems 'Hawk News'.
    Based on the Australian Mk.127, the contract covered upgrading the mission systems computers with autopilot, energy management cues, mission data loading and recording facilities, traffic collision avoidance systems for use in civil air space, and a moving map on one of the multi-functional displays. Work is now in progress on a further software upgrade, Operational Capability 2 (OC2), to give the aircraft synthetic training capabilities for the simulation of various operational scenarios.
    Aircraft deliveries are under way, with the RAF accepting the first T2 (RAF designation) aircraft at Warton in February with six accepted by the end of March. Training of the first six instructors at the BAES site started shortly afterwards and has now been completed using three aircraft. Ground crew training at Warton took place on the two development aircraft, ZK010 and ZK012, both of which are back at Brough to be brought up to full production standard before delivery.
Hawk News

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    Operations will continue at Warton until later this year when some half dozen of the 28 aircraft fleet will move to RAF Valley for "shakedown" flying and "instructor work". The rest will be put in store at RAF Shawbury awaiting completion of the delayed contract, not signed until June 2008, for a new Hawk T2 hangar complex, the foundations for which were not started until February. The planned in-service date is now November 2009. Altogether 22 Hawk T2s will be delivered this year with the last six to follow in 2010. 'Flight  International' reported that the first students will fly the type in mid-2011, more than two years from acceptance of the first aircraft. What will be happening in the interim? It all seems very slow compared to the TMk1 story, and that was with a brand new airframe!
    A follow-on order from India, for 40 more Hawk Mk 132s for the Air Force and 17 for the Navy, is now in doubt because the Indian Government is to invite tenders for the supply of further advanced jet trainers. An RFI (Request for Information) has been issued to six companies, including to BAES, for an upgraded Hawk AJT. The other contenders are the Czech Aero L-159 ALCA, the Italian Alenia Aermacchi M-346, the Korean KAI T-50 Golden Eagle, and the Russian MiG ATand Yakovlev Yak 130. It has been reported that this change of mind was caused by problems with Hawk spares and the manufacturing programme at Hindustan Aeronautics.
    More bad news was that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Air Force, a long time Hawk operator, has chosen the Alenia Aermacchi M-346 rather than the Hawk AJT. The M-346 features advanced aerodynamics, fly-by-wire and supersonic performance. This, its first export order, is for 48 aircraft. Many years ago BAES decided not to design a Hawk successor but to improve the capabilities of the existing airframe.