Page 64 - Australian Defence Magazine Feb-Mar 2023

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AIRPOWER HAWK UPGRADE
FEBRUARY-MARCH 2023 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
HAWK UPGRADE PROGRAM UNDERWAY
The first two of the RAAF’s 33 Hawk Mk.127 Lead-In Fighter Trainers (LIFTs) were upgraded with new engines in January 2023 and after the completion of test and evaluation activities, re-equipping the rest of the fleet will get underway in September.
JULIAN KERR | SYDNEY
THIS follows the announcement in February 2022 of a new $1.5 billion contract with BAE Systems Australia (BAESA) under which the Hawk fleet is to be upgraded by 2025 to maintain an advanced LIFT capability and the aircraft’s life-of-type will be extended from 2026 to 2032 – and possibly beyond.
The agreement covers the extension from mid-2022 through to 2031 of BAESA’s existing in-service support providing maintenance, engineering and supply chain ser- vices at RAAF bases Williamtown and Pearce.
But it also encompasses replacing the Hawk Mk.127’s Rolls-Royce Adour Mk.871 engine with the more ad- vanced, powerful and reliable Adour Mk.951; and progres- sively implementing a mission systems capability roadmap to meet the needs of pilots preparing to fly the F-35A Joint
Strike Fighter, the F/A-18F Super Hornet, and the EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft.
UPGRADE OR REPLACE?
The new BAESA agreement coincided with a Request for In- formation (RFI) released to industry by CASG in June 2020 on technologies that could lead to the replacement of the RAAF’s LIFT capability under Project Air 6002 Phase 1.
Information received would inform Defence decision- making ‘in relation to the future of the LIFT training sys- tem capability’ but would not form any part of any Com- monwealth procurement process.
It’s understood that, while several manufacturers pro- posed new training systems based around new aircraft,