They should just get on and order 15 - 12 Hawk T2's for Scampton and 3 ready use spares kept at Shawbury.

That should last at least 25 years after which anyone's guess.......................

and no I'm not the biggest fan of BAe but in the post Brexit world we need to start backing our own industry....................

Arc

Hawk T1a and Trigger's broom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUl6PooveJE

Oh lets go the whole hog, LIGHTNINGS!:8

FB:)

Do all aircraft have to be of the same type? How about a mixture, but only two types?:)

Sorry, you're right. I wasn't thinking big enough.

Or Harriers. Axing them was bonkers.

The USMC would be happy to sell some well-used F-18s, fair trade after getting the Harriers.

GF

Or, as was suggested on another forum, Buccaneers! That way if there is low cloud they still do the display only lower down...

Hawk T1 OSD is scheduled as follows:
. 736 NAS - 2020
. 100 Sqn - 2027
. Red Arrows - 2030

The 736 NAS Hawks will be replaced from 2020 by the ASDOT (Air Support to Defence Operational Training) contract, which will also replace the Cobham FA-20s, and, in time, the 100 Sqn Hawk T1s. ASDOT will be an outsourced contract, with Qinetiq/Thales already having bid with the Textron Scorpion.

So any new Red Arrows A/C won't come until the 2030 timeframe.

However, by 2030 the existing Hawk T2s will be getting a little long in the tooth as lead-in platforms to F-35 and Typhoon, especially since Typhoon is expected to have undergone a cockpit upgrade in line with F-35 by then (including a single large-area display, and HMD to completely replace the HUD). In addition, all the twin-stick Typhoons will likely have been retired by 2030. So sending students solo on F-35/Typhoon, having come straight off of a Hawk T2 that is no longer operationally representative, is not a great idea.

BAe are already working on updated Hawks, which will include a large-screen display (pictured below). Other features such as a HMD, AAR probe, targeting pod, and practice weapons should also be included in order to download more training from the OCUs and better prepare students for the front line.

http://aerosociety.com/Assets/Images...isplay-web.jpg

So the best option, in my opinion, is for the RAF to order a new batch of Hawk T2s in the mid-2020s to be used for training from 2030 onwards, and give 11-12 or so of the existing 27 Hawk T2s to the Reds (and retire the rest).

For time on the Display Line in front of the Crowd.....there is always the Jaguar!

Throw in a couple of shows in adjoining Counties with a good Motorway between the two and they could do two shows at once calling Takeoffs a very...very...low pass.

The technology is there for formations of robot drones! No pilots needed, just some geeks. Im sure you could apply this to Reapers or other larger drones?:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShGl5rQK3ew

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQIMGV5vtd4

The AAC Blue Eagles did that for a while, over a decade ago with WAH-64D plus the Lynx AH.7 ...

There's always the option of painting the BBMF ac red!


That way the Reds would get a mixed fleet of ac to display, and might just stretch to a nine-ship if the Spitfires/Hurricanes where augmented by a few of 3rd/4th/5th hand Harvards and Chipmunks.


The cost of the BBMF & Reds would be amalgamated and the public still get to see the RAF, or more accurately a vestige of its once more glorious past, in action.....:(.


MB

This is worth a watch especially at the end of the documentary when they head to Canada and perform alongside the Blue Angels, Thunderbirds and the Snowbirds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJo8zoxmwwk

Interesting when all four teams are introduced to each other @33:50 onwards comparing a/c.

cheers