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UK examines ‘alternative options’ for Hawk T2 trainer
The UK has 28 Hawk T2 aircraft, operated by both the RAF and the Royal Navy, based off a £450 million ($581 million) contract placed with BAE Systems in 2006, but technical troubles largely related to engine and support issues have consistently troubled the program.
A pair of UK Hawk T2 jet trainer aircraft fly in formation (UK MoD)
BELFAST — The UK Ministry of Defence acknowledged recently that “alternative options” to its current Hawk T2 trainer program are “being assessed,” though it was tightlipped about what those assessments may involve.
The disclosure on Friday came in a report on future aviation capabilities from the British Defence Committee that said that though the Hawk has been an “export success,” the closing of production lines four years ago and the loss of associated “skills and manufacturing capability … will prove challenging and costly to regenerate.”
MoD comment included in the report’s annex said, “The Programme of Record for Hawk T2 was for an out of service date (OSD) of 2040, which allowed for time potentially to design and build a follow-on successor for Hawk in the Advanced Jet Training role. However, recent events have led to an investigation of Hawk output and likely performance to that OSD.”
Based on assessment it determined “further investment will be required for Hawk T2 to make an OSD of 2040, and alternative options to the Programme of Record are being assessed to ensure the best outcomes for Defence.”
The disclosure is in line with an ongoing Royal Air Force (RAF) Hawk capability investigation designed to support acquisition decisions related to the UK’s pending strategic defense review.
In a written statement published last year, Marie Eagle, UK defense procurement minister, said the investigation “includes consideration of a training system that would combine live flying training, including with our air weapons range infrastructure, and networked virtual training through realistic simulation.”
The UK has 28 Hawk T2 aircraft, operated by both the RAF and the Royal Navy, based off a £450 million ($581 million) contract placed with BAE Systems in 2006, but technical troubles largely related to engine and support issues have consistently troubled the program. Those problems are ultimately set to result in the platform being withdrawn from service sooner than a planned 2040 timeframe.
“It’s the … pinnacle of our flying training, and we don’t get what we need from Hawk today,” Air Chief Marshal Richard Knighton, UK Chief of the Air Staff, told the Freeman Air and Space Institute in November. “We get about half of what we should get out of it.”
He added, “I would like to replace Hawk T2 as soon as we can, in order to deliver a more modern, more reliable [aircraft with] greater capacity.”
BAE did not respond to a request for comment for this report as of press time, but in January the company told FlightGlobal, “As we look beyond the next decade, we are supporting analysis with customers around the world, including the RAF, on their future training requirements which naturally looks at the combination of aircraft, live flying and virtual training.”
“The outcome of this analysis will ensure any decisions made about a future training platform and the subsequent investment is put into the right areas at the right time – both for ourselves and our customers,” the company said then.
The replacement effort is a key priority for the UK to on board Eurofighter Typhoon, F-35 and Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) fighter jet pilots and is likely to see a host of British and international manufacturers put forward their wares.
Aircraft that could fit requirements include Italy’s M-346, Korea’s T-50, Turkey’s Hurjet, Korea’s T-50, and the Air Force’s T-7A Red Hawk, while the less well known UK firm Aeralis, a modular aircraft manufacturer, has recently touted its Common Core Fuselage (CCF) design as a central component of any future Hawk replacement bid.
Though the US and Europe have seen unprecedented geopolitical tension lately, which has already fueled some doubts about US-made jet purchases, analyst Douglas Barrie told Breaking Defense that it is unlikely to be a factor in a decision to go with the T-7 or not.
Barrie, a senior fellow for military aerospace at the UK-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, noted, some “concern may still be there, maybe industrial elements,” but for a trainer jet, “it’s not going to be as to the fore as [the acquisition of] combat platforms” would be.
Based on the UK’s experience of the Hawk and associated technical problems, Barrie said that the MoD “might” be more inclined to opt for a “minimal risk” aircraft. “How a new build, new project might play, I’m not sure,” he added, taking into account the position of Aeralis.
As the MoD weigh replacement options, Barrie said the Ministry would likely be pointed in a particular “direction” based off the need to focus on a “pretty capable cockpit in terms of being able to emulate the F-35 and Tempest whenever it comes along.”
