UK Launches Jet Trainer Tender

LONDON—The UK has launched a long-awaited tender to replace the BAE Systems Hawks jet trainers used for advanced training by the Red Arrows aerobatic team.

The UK Defense Ministry issued a request for information (RFI) to industry on Aug. 8 for the Jet Training System (JTS), launching market engagement for the program.

JTS aims to replace the Hawk T1s flown by the Red Arrows aerobatic team and the more modern Hawk T2s currently used for advanced jet training.

The latter were originally expected to exit service in 2040, but a series of engine problems with the Rolls-Royce/Safran Adour engines have seriously restricted aircraft availability, prompting the UK to send students to Italy, Qatar and the U.S. to maintain pilot pipeline throughput.

The training element of JTS calls for a platform that can “support the transition to fifth- and sixth-generation air systems,” and enabling UK pilots to be ready for “modern and future combat environments,” tender documents state. The new aircraft will form part of a “modernized fast jet training system,” likely to include ground-based training systems.

The program calls for a “significant UK workshare” in the procurement. The UK Defense Investment Plan set aside funding worth £360 million ($485 million) over the next four years to kick-start the program, with Minister for Defense Procurement Luke Pollard suggesting in July the program could be enabled by funding from the private sector.

Several UK training fleets are funded this way through the UK Military Flying Training System run by a Babcock and Lockheed Martin joint venture called Ascent Flight Training.

Some airframers have already declared interest in the program. BAE Systems is proposing the Boeing/Saab T-7 Red Hawk platform. Leonardo plans to offer the Blk. 20 model M-346, but does not yet have a UK partner for the program.

Formal requirements and numbers of aircraft for the program are yet to be revealed.

Submissions for the RFI are expected by Sept. 11.