Developed from the famous British BAe Hawk trainer, the Hawk 200 is a light multirole fighter specifically intended for the export market
Unlike its predecessors Hawks, the Hawk 200 would be developed solely to combat and not have trainer functionality. The second seat was removed to be filled with combat electronics. The Hawk 200 can engage in air defence, air denial, anti-shipping, interdiction, close air support, and ground attack.
In 1984, British Aerospace (now BAE Systems) decided to pursue development of a combat-orientated variant of the Hawk aircraft, designated as Hawk 200; up to this point the Hawk family had been typically employed by operators as an advanced trainer with secondary combat capabilities. The Hawk 200 made its maiden flight on May 19, 1986. A total of 62 were produced between 1990-2002. Its largest operator currently is the Indonesian Air Force with 23 aircraft, the Royal Malaysian Air Force with 13 aircraft, and the Royal Air Force of Oman with 11 aircraft.
In terms of design, the Hawk 200 retains the characteristics of its predecessor, with the notable change being a single cockpit instead of the two-seat cockpit on the BAE Hawk. The forward cockpit area which normally houses a pilot is replaced by an electronics bay for avionics and onboard systems, including a fire control computer, multi-mode radar, laser rangefinder and forward-looking infrared.
The aircraft has a length of 11.38 m, a wingspan of 9.39 m, a height of 4.16 m, an empty weight of 4.12 tons, and a maximum take-off weight of 9.1 tons. It has a low-mounted cantilever wing and is powered by a single turbofan engine. The Hawk 200 also has an upgraded wing, which in addition to four wing pylons seen in previous Hawks, also has wingtip missile support as well as greater wing area, increased wing droop, larger flaps and an optional mid-air refueling capability.
The Hawk 200 is powered by a single Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour Mk 871 non-afterburning turbofan engine, with 26 kN thrust. The aircraft can reach a maximum speed of Mach 1.2, a cruise speed of 796 km/h, a range of 892 km with internal fuel only, and can be increased to 1,950 km with 3 drop tanks. The service ceiling is 15,250 m, and the rate of climb is about 58 m/s.
