Harriett Baldwin, Minister for Defence Procurement showed support for the Advanced Hawk during her visit to Aero India.
After seeing at first hand the capabilities the Advanced Hawk offers, the Minister said:
“The UK and India have so much to offer one another in defence and I’m delighted to be at Aero India to build this close relationship. The joint development of the Advanced Hawk by BAE Systems and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited is an outstanding example of what our defence industries can achieve together.
Indian companies like HAL have been building UK-designed aircraft for over 40 years, so we are building on a strong foundation.”
Alan Garwood, Group Business Development Director, BAE Systems, added:
“The Advanced Hawk is another demonstration of our commitment to Make-in-India and presents a unique opportunity to build on our track record of collaboration with HAL and Indian industry in developing technologies and capabilities. Advanced Hawk is a great example of Make in India, for India and Export from India.”
Building on the success of the Hawk Mk132, which recently completed 100,000 flying hours with the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy, the features of the latest iteration of the Hawk enable training activities currently performed on frontline fighter aircraft to be undertaken on the updated air platform, according to BAE.
A development agreement with India is almost exactly like the UK reciprocal agreements with the EU, namely, you give, we take. Not only have the Indians wanted a total transfer of technology and complete manufactured in India, but now they are demanding control of subsequent exports. This is like the equivalent of turkeys voting for Christmas for the last remnants of the British defence industry. EU procurement rules, which are only applied in full by the British and the intentionally undervalued Euro have inflected enormous damage. Now what is left of the defence manufacturing base will be increasingly transferred to… Read more »