Europe’s next generation fighter aircraft.
These talks foundered in 1981 when no
commonality could be found among the
respective air forces.
Eager to not be stymied by
Government inaction, BAe and UK
ancillary industry partners lobbied the
Government in early 1983 to produce a
‘proof of concept’ technology
demonstrator. It would be an unstable, ‘fly
by wire’ aircraft constructed in part from
composites and would employ elements
of stealth. The Government agreed to
part-fund it in May 1983. The EAP
(Experimental Aircraft Programme) flew in
August 1986 and proved a great success.
EAP’s success led the way to
Eurofighter a collaborative venture with
Germany, Italy and Spain. Though the
project was broadly agreed in 1988 and
prototypes started flying in 1994, actual
production contracts were only placed in
1998 owing to Germany’s reluctance to
commit to the budget.Harriers and Hawks
By 1977 the Harrier was in operation with
the RAF and the US Marines and
production of the FRS1 was well in hand
UK’s Royal Navy at Kingston and Dunsfold.
The first FRS1 flew in August 1978 so
sufficient numbers were available for the
Navy’s aircraft carriers during the war
against the Argentines to regain the
Falkland Islands during 1982. Following
the clear success of the RN’s Harriers inThree of the seven Eurofighter
development aircraft: German
DA1 98+29, British DA2 ZH
and DA4 ZH590. DA1 and DA
flew in 1994 and DA4 in 1997.
(BAE SYSTEMS via Warton Heritage)Inset: BAE SYSTEMS logo from
1999.10 The Aircraft of British Aerospace and BAE SYSTEMS 1977 - 2017
the South Atlantic, 60 of the developed
Harrier FRS2s were ordered.
Surprisingly the next major Harrier
development was led by McDonnell
Douglas with BAe as a major sub-
contractor. The original BAe-McDonnell
Douglas collaboration had ended and
each had designed differing
developments of the aircraft. As the US
forces orders for the McDonnell Douglas
version were far greater than the RAF’s 60,
the UK accepted this much cheaper
version.
The Hawk which had made its maiden
flight in 1974, just three years prior to
BAe’s formation, was being delivered to
the RAF and was selling well abroad. The
improved version of the twin-seater, the
Hawk 100 with a combat wing was
launched in 1982 and in a move to
expand BAe’s portfolio of military aircraft
even further, a single-seat version, the
Hawk 200 which flew in 1986 was devised
for air forces needing an inexpensive
attack aircraft.Al Yamamah contract
Building on the contract that BAC won in
1965 from Saudi Arabia for Lightnings and
Strikemasters, BAe won its biggest-ever
arms export deal in September 1985, to
supply 132 aircraft to Saudi Arabia in a
contract estimated to be worth up to
£4bn. The contract was for 48 Tornado
GR1s, 24 Tornado F3s, 30 Hawks, Rapier
missiles and 48 Swiss-built Pilatus PC-turboprop training aircraft. This
agreement cemented the relationship
between BAe and Saudi Arabia, which is
one of the company’s current major
markets. These orders guaranteed work
for years ahead, along with training and
spares.BAe’s widens its reach –
takeovers of Royal Ordnance,
Rover Group and more
In April 1987 BAe purchased all 15
factories of Royal Ordnance, the UK
munitions provider. With this purchase,
BAe became the majority supplier of
munitions to the UK forces, marking a
strategic move towards redefining itself as
a defence company and not only an
aerospace manufacturer. It had also
purchased an electronics and
communications company, Sperry
Gyroscope, a construction company,
Ballast Needham and Arlington Securities
to manage the sale of its redundant sites.
The stock market was surprised in
March 1987 when the purchase of
state-owned, loss-making British volume
car manufacturer, Rover Group (previously
British Leyland) was announced. The
Chairman of BAe, Roland Smith
announced, “This will be the biggest
manufacturing business in Britain, that is
a position of considerable power...”
Smith’s philosophy was to emulate
Germany’s Daimler-Benz, a car, aerospace
and defence giant.