News Review: BAE Systems offers Hawk for USAF jet trainer program | ADM Oct 2010
BAE Systems has announced that it will pursue the US Air Force’s Advanced Pilot Training Family of Systems program with what it terms the world’s most advanced and successful fast jet training system, the proven Hawk Advanced Jet Training System.
BAE Systems says it is well positioned to compete for the USAF Advanced Pilot Training (APT) Family of Systems (FOS) - commonly called the T-X program.
This will replace over 400 T-38C Talon trainers with a new, integrated training aircraft and learning environment to train the next generation of USAF pilots.
The company has an off-the-shelf solution that is the only fully optimized jet trainer that is low risk, in-service and has demonstrated affordable life-cycle cost.
A carrier-capable variant of the Hawk, the Boeing T-45A Goshawk, already trains US Navy pilots.
“BAE Systems will prime this pursuit from its US business,” Larry Prior, executive vice president of service sectors for BAE Systems, said.
“We will pursue strategic partners in the US to provide best value to the USAF while investing in the US industrial base.”
Warfare of the future is not just about flying the aircraft, but about understanding, processing and reacting correctly to the quantity of information available in the cockpit, says the company.
The BAE Systems Hawk Advanced Jet Training System integrates live jet training with a high-fidelity virtual environment to support the development of pilots.
The system delivers advanced aircraft avionics, a fully integrated training environment and instructor debrief. It allows them to train in the same way they fight, including multi-engagement scenarios, complex combat situations, intercepts, data-link operations and the use of synthetic sensors.
The Hawk Advanced Jet Training System does not require development to meet the USAF’s desired 2017 Initial Operational Capability date, and it will substantially lower the total cost of training mission-ready pilots.
The Hawk family is the F-35 lead-in trainer for the US Navy, Royal Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force.
More than 900 Hawk aircraft have been delivered across 18 countries and more are currently on order.