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Advanced technologies give Hawk trainer a winning lift

16 Jun 2001

In its striking new livery, the BAE Systems Hawk Lead-In Fighter Trainer (LIFT) demonstrator aircraft, flown by test pilot Gordon McClymont, will be flying every day at the Paris Air show.

Hawk LIFT is the most advanced Hawk variant to date and has the advantage over its Paris Air Show display rivals of having already signed up its first customer, the South African Air Force.

Utilising experience gained with the highly successful Australian Hawk Mk127 Lead-In Fighter (LIF) programme, BAE Systems has further modified the aircraft to produce the Hawk LIFT. Hawk LIFT has been designed to provide performance, and cockpit displays, that are fully compatible with both current and future generations of front-line combat aircraft, with their ‘glass’cockpit environments. As well as providing an exceptional training platform, Hawk LIFT is highly effective in secondary operational roles, and can deliver a substantial weapons load of up to 3,000 kgs by night, as well as by day, and also in adverse weather conditions.

The most visible difference between the Hawk LIFT and earlier generations of Hawk trainers is the cockpit, which is dominated by three, full-colour, Multi-Function Displays (MFD) which present an extensive range of both tactical and systems data to the pilots, using symbology that can be configured for compatibility with any current, or projected, front line combat aircraft. The front cockpit also features a wide angle Head-Up Display (HUD), with similarly enhanced symbology, and data from the HUD can be presented to the rear seat occupant via the central MFD in the rear cockpit. To reduce pilot workload, particularly during the critical phases of combat missions, both cockpits are equipped with HOTAS (Hands-On-Throttle-And-Stick) controls, with moding and switching functions fully representative of modern front line combat types. For enhanced navigation and weapon aiming accuracy Hawk LIFT is equipped with a Global Positioning System (GPS) referenced Inertial Navigation System, while optional nose-mounted Forward Looking Infra-Red (FLIR) and/or laser sensors further enhance the aircraft’s all-weather capability.

The key to Hawk LIFT’s outstanding agility in the air is the combination of an aerodynamically advanced, seven station Combat Wing with Combat Manoeuvre Flap Setting, allied to a powerful, yet fuel efficient, Rolls-Royce/Turbomeca Adour turbofan engine.

The Hawk demonstrator aircraft is currently equipped with an Adour Mk871 engine, nominally rated at 6,030lb.st, but production standard LIFT aircraft will feature the uprated Adour Mk951 engine, rated in excess of 6,500lb.st, with Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC).

For increased operational autonomy Hawk LIFT also incorporates a number of system enhancements including an Auxiliary Power Unit (APU), On-Board Oxygen Generation System (OBOGS), a Health and Usage Monitoring System (HUMS) for comprehensive airframe fatigue monitoring and provision for Air-to-Air Refuelling (AAR).

With Hawk already established as the world’s most successful training and light combat aircraft, the new BAE Systems Hawk LIFT will ensure that the company is positioned to continue its dominance of the global trainer market.