Hawk T1's days with the Red Arrows are almost over: Here's what you said should come next
Stable and predictable – two words used by the Red Arrows to describe their Hawk T1 jets and absolutely essential characteristics for an aircraft flown by one of the world's premiere aerobatic display teams.
But the Red Arrows' time with their beloved jet is coming to an end.
The Hawk T1 is expected to be retired before the end of the decade – so we asked you which aircraft the Reds should adopt next.
The fantastic four
The Hawk made its first flight in 1974 and entered service back in 1976 – 50 years ago. Since then it's served in numerous nations around the world including Australia, Finland and India.
But another aircraft will soon be needed so we ran a BFBS Forces News audience poll offering four potential choices – and there was one clear winner – although the result was a bit of a surprise.
The contenders were the BAE Systems Hawk T2, the Leonardo M-346 Master, the Boeing-Saab T7 Red Hawk and the KAI T-50 Golden Eagle.
The lowdown
The Hawk T-2 is an aircraft superficially similar to the T1, but different in significant ways, notably the use of a computerised glass cockpit instead of conventional instruments, mimicking those found in the Typhoon and now the F-35.
The M-346 Master, the only twin-engine jet on the list, was developed from the Russian Yakovlev Yak-130. Users include Italy, Poland, Greece and Israel.
The twin-tail T7 Red Hawk, meanwhile, is a US-Swedish transonic advanced jet trainer that's been chosen by the US Air Force to replace the Northrop T-38 Talon as its advanced jet trainer.
The T-50 Golden Eagle, developed by Korea Aerospace Industries and Lockheed Martin, is a multi-role jet, taking on varied duties such as advanced jet trainer, light combat aircraft and even light air superiority fighter.
But what did our audience make of these options?
What you said
The Italian offering garnered a fair few positive responses – sometimes at the expense of the United States – with one person posting: "Given the Americans are unreliable, untrustworthy and mocked our service personnel and their sacrifices, it has to be the M-346 Master."
Another pointed out one of the Leonardo jet's key attributes, saying: "M-346 because of its twin engine."
While many posters wanted to see the Red Arrows adopt a UK-made aircraft, the audience was split as to whether or not this could realistically be achieved.
"Okay British made would probably be good, but the Hawk T2 hasn't been really that good or that reliable so far against the original T1 Hawk," said one respondent.
"Personally, as the Italians already use the M-346 in their aerobatic team and the T-50 Golden Eagle is used by the South Korean aerobatics team, I would go for the T7 Red Hawk as my first choice."
The suitability of the Hawk T2 was also dismissed by this poster, who pointed out: "T2 isn't suitable despite looking similar.
"I'd go with the proven Italian option as the main reason for the purchase is as a trainer, not an airshow queen."
Meanwhile, another said: "Britain should buy the South Korean jet trainer. No need for it to be British. Looks a good jet."
Someone else remarked how US aerobatics teams use in-service combat aircraft, not the T-38 Talon jet trainer.
"Would be cool to see some actual fighter aircraft used like the American Blue Angels. Seeing some Eurofighters painted in red would be cool," they said.
The verdict
While the other three aircraft all got plenty of approval, there was one clear winner – with 65% of the vote going to the Hawk T2.
Voting was even across the other three with the T-50 getting 13%, the T7 12% and the M-346 10% of the vote.
But while the Hawk T2 is a British jet – which was an important point for many respondents – is it necessarily the right choice?
Air Chief Marshal Sir Rich Knighton, the current Chief of the Defence Staff, doesn't think so.
ACM Sir Rich, speaking in 2024 when he was head of the RAF, was dismissive about its capabilities, calling it outdated and unreliable.
"We don't get what we need from Hawk today – we get about half of what we should get out of it," he said, adding that he would like to see it replaced as soon as possible.
His comments appear to have been backed up by another member of the BFBS Forces News audience, who posted: "I worked on the project to replace the T1 back in the day and it was a straight competition between the T2 and M-346.
"Most project engineers reckoned the M-346 was the better aircraft for the training role, but the government of the day went with T2 because of the relationship with BAES. Suspect they will do the same again."
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