All eyes on the Hawk
17 January 2018
BAE Systems has flown the demonstrator for a new so-called Advanced Hawk configuration. Jon Lake takes a look at the new aircraft
The Advanced Hawk demonstrator made its maiden flight in its new configuration from the company’s Warton, Lancashire site on June 7 2017, after being unveiled at the Aero India show at Bengaluru on February 14 2017.
The availability of this enhanced model could lead to new orders from Gulf and Middle Eastern air forces.
The new variant will be a faster, more agile Hawk that can also carry smart weapons, and the programme aims to give the aircraft an “edge in fast-jet pilot training, as well as offering increased operational utility”, according to Dave Corfield, BAE Systems head of Hawk India.
The Advanced Hawk is intended to be closer in performance and capability – both real and synthetic – to the frontline aircraft that the pilots are training to use...
...Though they look very similar to the original Hawk, a new generation of Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) and Lead-In Fighter Trainer (LIFT) Hawk variants was introduced in the late 1990s. These aircraft had only 10% commonality with their forebears, introducing a new airframe with four times the fatigue life, and with advanced embedded training systems that made them arguably the most effective advanced pilot training aircraft in service today...
...The Advanced Hawk features a modified wing with an almost full-span active leading-edge slat (using the slat actuation system from the Tejas light combat aircraft) and an upgraded combat flap. The leading-edge slat has three manually selectable positions (0°, 6° and 16°) on the demonstrator, but would be fully variable (and automatically actuated) in production models.
The new wing confers significant improvements in take-off and landing performance, a 17% improvement in climb performance, a 20% reduction in turn radius, and a 25% improvement in turn rate, as well as giving much better high-alpha (angle-of-attack) capability, with wind-tunnel testing and simulation indicating that the Advanced Hawk should be able to achieve 22-23 units of Alpha, about ten units more than the current Hawk.
All in all, the Advanced Hawk should be comparable to current frontline fighters like the F-16 in terms of manoeuvrability.
To cope with the increase in angle of attack (AoA), the height of the vertical stabiliser will be increased by nine inches, and a yaw-axis stability augmentation system will be provided to cope with any adverse yaw.
The Advanced Hawk will be powered by the 6,500lb Rolls Royce Adour Mk.951 turbofan, and not the 6,000lb Adour Mk.871 used on many in-service Hawks. Some consideration has been given to providing even greater thrust.
The Advanced Hawk has an all-new cockpit with a large area display, similar to that used on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, but capable of replicating the cockpit configurations of older aircraft, including those with analogue instruments or with smaller multifunction LCD displays.
The aircraft incorporates BAE’s LiteHUD, a low-profile digital head-up display, and is also fitted with ground proximity warning system, traffic collision avoidance system, and a datalink.
With these cockpit systems, the Advanced Hawk can simulate or emulate the latest frontline sensors and weapons, including those of the F-35.
The Advanced Hawk is also fitted for air-to-air refuelling and has a radar warning receiver and countermeasures dispensers, as well as provision for a laser designator pod and full smart weapons capability – making it suitable for use as a frontline light attack aircraft, as well as for realistic weapons training.
It is the first Hawk platform with a full frontline combat capability, (the aircraft has been referred to as the Combat Hawk), and has both beyond-visual-range and precision-strike capabilities
The Advanced Hawk is the result of a cooperative, jointly funded 24-month programme with India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), and it will be jointly marketed by BAE Systems and HAL.
The aircraft will be offered to new customers, and also to existing Hawk operators, and the companies have projected a market for at least 300 airframes over the next 10 years.
Most Advanced Hawk features and capabilities, including the large area display and new wing, could be retrofitted into older in-service Hawks, either as modules, or as a whole. Depending on the customer, BAE and HAL will jointly decide where such upgrades will take place.
As a new-build aircraft, it is anticipated that most Advanced Hawks would be built in and exported from India, which already has a low-cost production line and an existing Indian supply chain, though the aircraft could also be built at BAE’s Warton plant.
The related HAL Hawk-i adds Indian-developed embedded training system, mission computer, communications, datalink and countermeasures systems.