BAE: Hawk will be a Critical Component in the Pilot Training Pipeline for F-35

Defence Turkey: What will you be showcasing at this year’s International Defence Industry Fair IDEF?

 

I am very much looking forward to this IDEF event – it’s one of the highlights in the defence exhibition calendar.  The event provides a great opportunity to meet with customers, colleagues and our many friends in Turkey.  At this year’s event the Hawk Advanced Jet Training Aircraft, our integrated training capabilities and our collaborative production experience will figure strongly.

 

Defence Turkey: Why do you think Hawk is so successful?

 

From an aerodynamic point of view Hawk has always been a fantastic aircraft – it’s easy to fly and it’s an extremely stable platform to build upon.  The latest versions of Hawk are, in effect, a completely new aircraft but the huge advantage that the Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer has over the competition is that it was not designed as a brand new project.  Hawk has been developed over the past 20 years.  It’s been a constant evolution based on customer experiences and feedback; and emerging customer requirements.  

 

Defence Turkey: What is different about the latest Hawk?

Today’s Hawk trains pilots to fight and it uses the same type of digital glass cockpit as you would find on the latest combat aircraft.  You get Multi-Function Displays, a Head-Up Display and Hands-on-throttle-and-stick.  It’s a million miles away from the cockpit you would have found in older versions of Hawk.  

Then there’s the really clever part – Hawk’s embedded simulation and emulation technologies are better than anything our competitors can offer.  For a trainee fighter pilot this makes a real difference because it allows you to turn the sky into a virtual, front-line warzone.  Advanced data-link technology creates synthetic and simulated threats such as hostile radar, aircraft and weapons.  All this information is displayed in the cockpit on displays that replicate what you would see in a fourth or fifth generation fighter aircraft.  So, Hawk brings front-line systems into the fast-jet training environment and it does it in an extremely cost-effective way. That’s why it is and will continue to be successful.     

 

Defence Turkey: How many Hawks have been sold?

The recent order from the Sultanate of Oman took the total number of Hawks sold to 998. These sales have been to 18 nations in support of nine different front line fighter aircraft types. Hawk has flown over 3.5 million hours and has trained over 20,000 pilots to fly most of the World’s current front-line fighters.  Additionally, with F35 approaching, at least four nations are also planning to use Hawk as their Lead In Fighter Trainer for this aircraft.

 

Defence Turkey: What collaborative programmes have BAE Systems been involved with for Hawk?

BAE Systems has had successful industrial participation for Hawk programmes in Finland, Australia, South Africa, India and the USA.  These projects have ranged from insertion of country-specific equipment through to shared production or final assembly and has also included licensed build to a revised specification.  BAE Systems is very experienced and uniquely placed to quickly bring value to collaborative design and production ventures for next generation advanced training aircraft

 

Defence Turkey: What does the future hold for Hawk?

Today’s front-line fighters are becoming ever more advanced, with improved capabilities - more efficient radars, weapons and sensors.  For Hawk, a big selling point is that we can replicate all of this through the continuing development of Hawk’s simulation and emulation capabilities.  This is an extremely cost effective way of working and it means that Hawk is well positioned to meet the demands of air-forces around the world no matter what front-line aircraft they operate, both now and in the future.        

Hawk sits at the heart of the Royal Air Force’s revolutionary integrated pilot training system and the new Hawk AJT is designed to address the complex system management needs of the next generation combat aircraft like Eurofighter Typhoon and the F-35 Lightning II.  Hawk will be a critical component in the pilot training pipeline for F-35 as it is introduced into service and will be providing support and trained pilots for the next 40 years.