It is a sad indictment of the British aerospace industry - BAe - that they cannot design and build the new advanced jet trainer.
Done it before - with two good aircraft, the Jaguar and the brilliant Hawk. We (RAAF) followed the RAF with a newer T.1, greatly upgraded digital avionics as the LIFT and called the Mk.127, ordered in 1996. Similar I would guess to Viking's Canadian Mk.115. The RAF's follow-on Hawk T.2 appears not to have been a great success.
Our Hawk 127 will be the next fast jet for replacement, and with no RAF indigenous project, I can see going for the T-7.
Last edited by BBadanov; 15th January 2026 at 06:13.