Aircraft

The UK Ministry of Defence has today signed a £450 million ($835 million) production deal with BAE Systems to acquire a new fleet of 28 Hawk 128 advanced jet trainers (AJT) to enter service from 2008.

The award covers the production of 26 new Hawk 128s, with these to join two demonstrator aircraft already manufactured and flying under an almost £160 million design and development contract placed with the manufacturer in December 2004. The new aircraft are to replace part of the UK’s current fleet of BAE Hawk T1/1A trainers.

Signed by UK Defence Procurement Minister Lord Drayson, the AJT contract clears the way for the MoD to select from next month a training system partner for the UK Military Flying Training System. The three teams bidding for the requirement had voiced unease over entering into an agreement to deliver the infrastructure – which is to include a synthetic training system for the new Hawk fleet – before a production order had been placed for the type.

The award will also boost BAE’s efforts to sell new-generation Hawk trainers to potential customers including Greece, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

In a separate development, Bahrain’s first two of six Hawk 129 trainers landed in the Gulf state on 17 October, following a four-day delivery flight from BAE’s Warton site in Lancashire. Bahrain formally accepted its first Hawk 129 on the opening day of July’s Farnborough air show in the UK, and will receive its remaining four aircraft by early next year.

Read Craig Hoyle's blog on flying the Hawk with Canada's NFTC