Nav,
Of course anything is an improvement if it has some genuine "glassness" about it so that our guys & gals are a little better prepared for Typhoon, Gr4, Gr9, JSF, C-130J, C-17, FTSA (whatever THAT may be), Apache, CH-47D, Merlin, etc etc etc
However, for the fast jet I think that there are two key operational elements + one key commercial one...
Op 1) - Needs to prepare the student for all the systems, sensor, cockpit and environment management of the modern FJ
Op 2) - Needs to enable to student to execute these skills within a flight envelop environment that replicates modern 4th & 5th generation a/c with adequate SEP etc.
Com 1) - Needs to be affordable in basic acquisition and LCC
I am sure that "new Hawk" is doing quite well on Op 1 but I have severe concerns on the other two. Add to that the inherent availablility problems (partly caused by a long MTTR due to the somewhat ancient design) and I am not sure this is the optimum solution for our knights of the skies...
However.... I am sure that politic will prevail over logic every time
