The Aircraft of British Aerospace and BAE SYSTEMS 1977 - 2017 97Hawks for export
The Hawk was designed from the outset
to be attractive to overseas market not
only as a trainer but as a fighter/
ground-attack aircraft. As part of the
expansion of this aspect of the Hawk,
G-HAWK was employed in trialling and
expanding the Hawk’s armament
capabilities for fighter and ground attack
roles. The manufacturer and Ministry of
Defence recognised that licence
production, offsets, finance deals and
political manoeuvring would be
necessary to clinch export sales.
The first export customer for the Hawk
was Finland and in November 1976 their
Defence Ministry announced an order for
50 Hawks to be delivered in 1979.
Following four British-built aircraft, 46
were assembled by Patria in Finland. In
1993 the Finns received an additional
seven Hawk 51As and 18 former Swiss Air
Force Hawks 66s joined the fleet in 2007.
The entire Finnish Hawk fleet including
24 with upgraded cockpits is prepared to
serve until the mid-2030s. Selling aircraft
in an overcrowded market was and is a
matter of who can offer the best terms.
Licenced production was a fact of life in
aircraft sales and off-loaded the
production facilities of the parent
company. The Finnish company also
manufactured some parts, such as the
airbrake, from materials supplied by
British Aerospace. Other customers soon
followed Finland’s lead. Kenya ordered
twelve and Indonesia, which ordered
eight and later bought 30 more. These
three customers were the only recipients
of the Hawk 50s which were very similar
to the Hawk T1. The Hawk 50 was
superseded by the Hawk 60 which
became the standard export version. It
was powered by the Adour 861,
producing 10% more thrust at altitude
and 20% more at low level. The
maximum lift of the wing was increased
and the flap mechanism modified to
allow full-flap take-offs to reduce thetake-off distance.
During 1980s orders continued to roll
in from around the world. Zimbabwe was
the first customer for the Hawk 60 buying
eight and more orders came from Dubai,
Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and
Switzerland. These 20 Swiss Hawks
replaced elderly DH Vampires and
whereas the first Swiss Hawk was built in
the UK; the remainder were assembled at The Swiss
received 20 Hawks.
The first Swiss Hawk
was built in the UK;
the remainder were
assembled at the
Swiss Air Force base
at Emmen. The 18
remaining were sold
to Finland in 2007.
(BAE Systems) Hawk – 40 years of refinement
US Navy Goshawk about to touch down on
the deck of a US aircraft carrier, with its
leading-edge slats, airbrakes and arrestor
hook out. (BAE SYSTEMS North West Heritage)