Design

T1 Hawk at RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk, 1984

The Hawk is an advanced trainer with a two-man tandem cockpit, a low-mounted cantilever wing and is powered by a single turbofan engine. Unlike many of the previous trainers in RAF service, the Hawk was specifically designed for the purpose.^[4] Hawker had developed the aircraft to have a high level of servicability, as well as lower purchasing and operating costs than previous trainers like the Jet Provost.^[21] The Hawk has been praised by pilots for its agility, in particular its roll and turn handling.^[22]

The design of the fuselage included a height differential between the two seats of the cockpit; this provided generous levels of visibility for the instructor in the rear seat.^[23] Each cockpit is fitted with a Martin-Baker Mk 10B zero-zero rocket-assisted ejection seat.^[23] Air is fed to the aircraft's rear-mounted Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour engine via intakes on each of the forward wing roots. During the aircraft's development, Hawker had worked closely with Rolls-Royce to reduce the engine's fuel consumption and for a high level of reliability.^[21]

Even within the development stages, a Hawk variant was intended to also serve as a single-seat ground-attack fighter; both the trainer and fighter models were developed with the export market in mind.^[4] On single seat models, the forward cockpit area which normally houses a pilot is replaced by an electronics bay for avionics and onboard systems, including a fire control computer, multi-mode radar, laser rangefinder and forward-looking infrared (FLIR).^[24] Some export customers, such as Malaysia, have extensive modifications to their aircraft; including the addition of wingtip hardpoint stations and a fittable inflight refuelling probe.^[25]

SAAF Hawk performing landing

The Hawk was designed to be manoeuvrable and can reach Mach 0.88 in level flight and Mach 1.15 in a dive, thus allowing trainees to experience transonic flight before advancing to a supersonic trainer.^[26][27] The airframe is very durable and strong, stressed for +9 g, the normal limit in RAF service is +7.5/-4 g.^[28] A dual hydraulic system supplies power to operate systems such as the aircraft's flaps, airbrakes and landing gear, together with the flight controls. A ram air turbine is fitted in front of the single tail fin to provide backup hydraulic power for the flight controls in the event of an engine failure,^[29] additionally a gas turbine auxiliary power unit is housed directly above the engine.

The Hawk is designed to carry a centreline gun pod, such as the 30 mm ADEN cannon, two under-wing pylons, and up to four hardpoints for fitting armaments and equipment.^[4] In RAF service, Hawks have been equipped to operate of Sidewinder air-to-air missiles. In the early 1990s, arming the Hawk with the Sea Eagle missile for anti-ship operations had been studied by BAe for export customers.^[30]