Defence

Canadian Snowbirds aerobatic team could take former Swiss BAE Hawks to replace Tutors in unsolicited bid from Venga

By Graham Warwick

US engineering services firm Arinc has completed an inspection of Switzerland’s retired BAE Systems Hawk jet trainers in support of a proposal to lease the aircraft to the Canadian Forces to replace ageing Canadair CT-114 Tutors flown by the Snowbirds display team.

Canadian firm Venga Aerospace Systems submitted the unsolicited proposal in September, and believes it is being taken seriously by the Department of National Defence (DND) in Ottawa, says company president Hirsh Kwinter.

© Arinc

Under the proposal, the 18 ex-Swiss Hawks (pictured above in storage) would be owned by Venga, maintained by Arinc Engineering Services and flown by the Snowbirds under a 20-year lease at a per-hour cost that fits the current annual budget for operating the 35-year-old Tutors (pictured below).

© Craig Hoyle / Flightglobal.com

Kwinter says Venga and Arinc have had substantive discussions with the Swiss air force, which has had the Hawks up for sale for two years since retiring the aircraft. Three are still flying and the other 15 are in storage, he says.

The cockpits of the Swiss Hawks would be upgraded, and Kwinter says the aircraft would require an engine modification – developed for the UK Royal Air Force’s Red Arrows display team – that overcomes the “turbo lag” of early Rolls-Royce Adours.

“We are not the first to make a proposal to re-equip the Snowbirds,” says Kwinter. Following the Canadian Forces’ decision to phase out its Tutors in favour of the Bombardier-run NATO Flying Training in Canada programme, it was offered additional new-build Hawks to re-equip the Snowbirds, but the cost was too high.

“We have made a presentation [to the DND]. They took it seriously, and thought it had merit,” says Kwinter, describing the department’s official response as “non-committal”. Two companies currently have a business-development agreement, but under the plan Venga would raise the financing to buy the aircraft and Arinc would receive a contract to support the aircraft for the life of the 20-year lease.

Toronto-based Venga was established in the 1980s to develop the TG-10 Brushfire all-composite jet trainer, but the prototype was destroyed in a fire in May 1998. To survive the company entered the 3D graphics market, but last year re-animated its aerospace division, with the Snowbirds proposal as its first project.