Hawk
 

Given the criminally expensive cost of the F35, wouldn't a more realistic option be to cancel this White Elephant, concentrate on greater numbers of Typhoons, and buy 100/150 Hawk-200 Series for the RAF? (or an improved version thereof)

No, it wouldn't. Next.

"Cut our losses"

Good one that.

Considering the wars we've opted into recently, we ought to be buying Skyraiders.

Atomkraft
I wish there was a "Like" Button on this website.

Similarly, an "unlike" one. I love you chaps who have the correct Lat Long but for a different planet.

May I use that for my own purposes?

Hawk
 

Stendec.
Speaking as someone with a fair amount of Hawk experience I will give you a sensible answer. The Hawk in its various guises is a bloody brilliant training aircraft but the 21st century RAF would not benefit from using it as a frontline strike platform.
Does that answer your question?
Let me guess. Is the next question going to be 'why not?!'
BV

The A-4E, which started coming off the Douglas Aircraft production lines in 1963, is a much better strike aircraft than the Hawk (twice the payload, for a start).

Especially when fitted with the modern multimode radars of the 1990s upgrades (APG-66 of New Zealand & Argentina), and the 2010s upgrade (Elta 2032 radar system and the 11,200lb thrust J52-P-408 of Brazil).

Yes, a 50-year-old "simple and basic" design is better than the Hawk.

Why not just drag a few Hunters out? There are plenty still flying.

Presumably the purpose of the F35 is to carry missiles to within striking range of the enemy. Could we not find a cheaper delivery vehicle given that dogfighting appears to have been consigned to the pages of history?

Good grief. there are so many implicit, dreadful assumptions in that statement, that I don't know where to start. So I won't.

Sun.

Hawk
 

I did say, "or a version thereof." Take the Hawk 200 Series, transform into a twin engined supersonic-capable machine, strengthened wings, improved avionics.
I imagine such a machine would retail for say...£50m per unit (as opposed to £120m per unit) Also built in British factories/British jobs/good for the economy/foreign sales, no longer a cringing subservient lap-dog of the White House.
There, does that sound so bad?

Mate,

When you say 'transform' do you mean 'start again and build something fundamentally different'?

How does one imagine a price tag? In the same way as I imagine the jet's performance against double digit SAMs and Gen 4 fighters?

Against all the odds you have managed to make your proposition sound worse. Well done you.

Now i'm showing my age.... But firstly, I have flown Canberra, F4, Hawk (yes) and Jaguar operationally, so have a little knowledge.

When the Bucc arrived, I thought Canberra was better.

When Tornado arrived I thought Canberra was better.

When Jaguar arrived I thought Canberra was better.

Get my drift?

Now I think the Mosquito would have been the best.

Why?

Cheap, can still carry a Nucc, and 1000 Mosquitos have a better chance of getting through than one Typhoon, which anyway will probably go u/s :)

Sun

I was hoping someone would have an answer, but so far it seems that my assumptions are correct. Enlighten me please!

GK121

I understand your comments. I flew the A-4M on exchange with the the USN 78-81. A great machine with amazing capabilities and potential. But the USN/USMC declared it to be obsolescent.

I have a whole lot fewer hours in the Hawk - but it also is a good aircraft with great potential, and seems to sell well in the modern environment.

Perhaps both are great aircraft - but no-one is selling the A-4 in the modern market.

So let's blame the arms marketeers, rather than pick between two different but great aircraft!!

Yes, but can you imagine the bean counters reacting to the 2000 extra notional pension contributions to be paid? :eek:

Sharpend, what you're saying is that we need an MRCA. Must Refurbish Canberras AGAIN.

If you're gonna spend £50mil each on a pimped up Hawk, and all the limits such a small airframe has, (not to mention the development costs) why not just spend a few £'s more and buy more Tyhoons?


-RP