Originally Posted by
Bob Viking
The answer is a categorical no. Even back in the days that a ‘war role’ was touted for Hawks it was the Hawk T1W which was capable of launching a sidewinder. The Red Arrows Hawks are not weapons capable in any way.
BV
It was the T1A which was sidewinder capable, as opposed to the T1W which was for training weaponry. Over time, some T1As have migrated into the RAFAT fleet but the extensive smoke Mods remove or disable a lot of the weapon controls and wiring, so that they are not weapons capable as they stand.
The old
PR stories of RAFAT having a war role was for the pilots not the aircraft and, in the 80s, they used to do a week of air defence training at Brawdy each year. I'm also pretty sure that the aircraft in the infamous photo of the RAFAT Hawk carrying winders and a gun was a plain old T1. The only other war role for all training aircraft back then was comms and VIP transport - supposedly.
But the answer is still no!