Initial orders for 58 upgraded Hawk 100s from Australia and Canada are being used by British Aerospace to develop an international sales campaign for lead-in fighter trainers (LIFT) incorporating further options to meet specific customer requirements. With structural improvements conferring an extended 10,000-hour fatigue life from the original Hawk 100, as well as expanded Mil-1553B digital avionics, including three (instead of one) color liquid-crystal multi-function cockpit displays and a HUD, the LIFT Hawk is claimed to be a completely new aircraft.

In fact, said Andy Wilson, head of Hawk new business, consideration had been given to giving the aircraft a different name. But BAe decided to stay with the Hawk's well-established reputation in the training market from 562 orders to date, plus U.S. Navy commitments to 174 T-45 Goshawk versions.

For next-generation fighter conversion requirements, for such types as the Gripen, Mirage 2000-5 and Eurofighter Typhoon, new Hawk LIFT avionics include duplicated mission computers to provide redundancy and spare capacity for future growth capability, as well as INS/GPS, a moving map display, night-vision goggle-compatible cockpit, and advanced HOTAS. Among other new systems are AC electrics with main and auxiliary generators, the latter powered by an APU which also provides in-flight back-up and independent ground-running power. The seven-station combat wing is combined with a new stores management system for up to 6,800 pounds of external weapons. Training for wet air-to-air refueling is catered for by a fixed forward-fuselage probe.

Standard LIFT equipment also includes an improved environmental control system and on-board oxygen generation, plus the addition of nosewheel steering, formation lights, and a health and usage monitoring system (HUMS). Provision and wiring are also made for such operational training or combat options as GEC-Ferranti TICM II forward-looking infrared (FLIR), Ferranti 105H laser rangefinder and spot tracker, and removable Sky Guardian radar warning receiver and rear-fuselage chaff/flare dispensers. Radar simulation, or emulation of a different target-types, is achieved from under-fuselage pod-mounted systems.

Retaining the well-tried 5,845-pound-thrust Rolls-Royce/Turbomeca Adour Mk 871 turbofan of the Hawk 100, now cleared to a 4,000-hour service cycle, the LIFT version has a maximum level speed of 525 kt, and can be dived to Mach 1.2. Fuel costs, however, for 20 aircraft flying 300 hours per year over 20 years are estimated by BAe at about $20 million, compared with over $40 million for the F-5E and around $60 million for the F-16. Direct operating costs, including fuel, maintenance and spares support, for the same period are estimated at $90 million, $390 million and $440 million, respectively.

Negotiations for further Hawk orders are currently being held by BAe with the RAF and a dozen countries-Bahrain, Brunei, Egypt, Greece, India, New Zealand, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, South Africa and the UAE. Most of these would be new Hawk customers, and their business could involve orders for up to 150 or more aircraft over the next few years. Life extension programs for the RAF's 130 or so Hawks have left the British service seriously short of advanced training capacity, which might possibly result in a two-tier order within a couple of years for 40 to 60 more basically-equipped advanced trainers, and LIFT versions for potential Eurofighter pilots. For the longer-term, looking at a Hawk follow-on from about 2030, a BAe policy team at Warton is studying future jet-training strategies on a day-to-day basis.

Meanwhile, some LIFT systems and avionics, in flight-trials of the first phase of software development covering basic navigation and weapons modes, are already being flown in a BAe Hawk 100 demonstrator from Warton.

As the first Hawk LIF* customer (a BAe distinction from the planned full LIFT program), the Royal Australian air force is expecting delivery of the first of its 33 Mk 127s in early 2000, and will assemble all but the first 12 from many locally subcontracted components at a new facility at Newcastle, NSW. A similar possibility is being discussed with Poland, which has a major advanced trainer requirement involving about 100 aircraft to replace its currently-stalled Iryda program, and is already involved in Hawk component production.