102 The Aircraft of British Aerospace and BAE SYSTEMS 1977 - 2017
air-to-air refuelling, defensive aids system
including a countermeasures dispenser,
radar warning receiver and a digital
head-up display.
As the last remaining wholly British
military aircraft programme, providing
work for 1,900 in the UK, it has proved
such a success, both at home and
overseas, that if more orders can be
assured that it will remain in production
for many years to come. Sensibly the
Hawk has been steadily improved during
its forty-plus years of development; a
whole series of very small steps, ratherthan a few giant leaps and this approach
has paid dividends.Saab – BAe Gripen
Following on from more than a decade of
co-operation between the two companies,
in 1995 British Aerospace signed an
agreement with Saab to form Saab-BAe
Gripen AB; a joint marketing, support and
manufacturing agreement for an export
variant of the Saab JAS39 Gripen.
The impetus for this agreement was
BAe’s research which had begun in 1980
into a lightweight, single-engined fighter.
This failed to attract any UK official
support so the agreement with Saab
provided BAe Military Aircraft with a
product which sat comfortably between
the Hawk trainer and the Eurofighter
Typhoon. In return Saab gained access to
the global sales organization of British
Aerospace which also adapted the
capabilities of the Gripen to fit NATO
standards and for flight refuelling.
BAe had been involved in the Gripen
programme before 1995 and had
designed and made the wings for the first
three prototypes. In 1998 BAe purchased a
35% holding in Saab under which it wouldproduce 45% of the export Gripen
airframes. The Brough, Yorkshire factory
which was already building the Gripen
main landing gear unit became the centre
for Gripen manufacturing in the United
Kingdom and was selected to assemble
the wing attachment unit. The site was
also responsible for the marrying-up these
units and the subsequent connection of
other assemblies. This resulted in the
delivery from Brough of 77 complete
Gripen centre fuselages for both single
and two-seater variants.
A significant milestone for Saab-BAE
SYSTEMS was achieved in December 1999
when the South African government
ordered 28 Gripen fighters, including nine
fully combat-capable two seaters. The
order significantly also included 24 BAE
Hawk 100 trainers. As part of an offset
deal, Brough’s Gripen work was gradually
passed over to Denel in South Africa,
initially by the manufacture at Brough of
22 kits and then wholesale manufacture
by Denel.
In 2005 BAE reduced its stake in Saab
to 20.5% in 2005 and in 2010 ended it, as
it was concentrating its attention on the
F-35. ■In collaboration with Hindustan Aeronautics, BAE
unveiled the Advanced Hawk at the Aero India
show in Bangalore in February 2017. Remodelled
Development aircraft ZJ100 displayed the new
features including active leading-edge slats,
combat flaps, air-to-air refuelling, defensive aids
system, radar warning receiver and a digital head-
up display. (BAE Systems)Data Hawk T2 AJT
Length 40ft 9in
Wingspan 32ft 7in
Height 13ft 1in
MTOW 16,480lbs
Max speed 630mph
Range 1,565mls
Crew 2
Powerplant 1 x Rolls-Royce Adour 951 6,800lbs