On 24 October 2006, Lord Drayson, Minister for Defence Procurement, announced that a £450 million contract has been awarded to BAE Systems to build 28 Hawk T2 Advanced Jet Trainer aircraft which are planned to be delivered to RAF Valley in October 2008.

The Hawk T2 will prepare fast jet aircrew for flying front-line aircraft with a modern cockpit environment of digital displays sophisticated navigation and advanced avionics.
The contract covers production of the 28 aircraft and the provision of logistic spares, and initial training. The Hawk T2 will prepare fast jet aircrew for flying front-line aircraft by delivering a modern cockpit environment with digital displays sophisticated navigation and advanced avionics, including simulations of the latest airborne weapons systems. This will greatly improve the training given to both the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy.

The Hawk T2's modern cockpit environment will have much in common with highly advanced frontline aircraft such as the Typhoon and Joint Combat Aircraft. The choice of Hawk T2 as the Advanced Jet Trainer will reduce the cost of training pilots up to the standard required for operational aircraft by enabling more training to be undertaken prior to converting to frontline aircraft.

The Hawk T2 will be built at the BAE Systems site in Brough on Humberside and assembled at their Warton facility. It is anticipated that the first of the aircraft will be delivered to the RAF in 2008. Hawk T2 will form a key part of the UK's Military Flying Training System (UKMFTS) programme which will modernise, and provide coherent flying training for, our Armed Forces.

Hawk T2 Facts:

1. The Hawk T2 has an extended nose to house additional avionics and features a number of major changes under the skin.

2. Three, full colour, multi-function displays similar to those used by modern fighters such as Typhoon can be used to display navigation, weapon and systems information.

3. The cockpit has new lighting fully compatible with the use of night-vision goggles for after dark operations. The aircraft's head-up display (HUD) has been updated to use symbols and data used in current combat aircraft. Other changes include 'Hands-On-Throttle-And-Stick' (HOTAS) controls which are fully representative of front line combat aircraft types, and twin Open Architecture mission computers hosting simulations of a wide range of sensor and weapon systems as well as a full featured IN/GPS navigation system with moving map display.

4. Hawk 128 is 40ft 7in (12.43m) long, has a wingspan of 32ft 7in (9.94m) and a top speed of 640 mph (1028 km/h).