Saudi-built BAE Systems Hawk 165 Advanced Jet Trainers are now in service with the Royal Saudi Air Force, making the Hawk the first indigenously assembled fast jet aircraft to fly in Saudi skies.
This represents a significant step forward for the Kingdom’s aerospace industry; Saudi Arabia has wanted to assemble military aircraft in the Kingdom for many years. The license manufacture (or final assembly) of aircraft is frequently considered emblematic of a maturing indigenous defense/aerospace industry, and Saudi Arabia eventually wants to manufacture half of its military aircraft domestically. By doing this, the Kingdom hopes to gain a strategic advantage by reducing its dependence on foreign suppliers, while the creation of a sustainable defense industry is also a key pillar of the ambitious Vision 2030 program.
At one time, Saudi Arabia had hoped to undertake the final assembly of 48 of the 72 Eurofighter Typhoons that it ordered in 2007, but those plans were scrapped. Instead, the Saudis were persuaded that local participation in Typhoon through-life support would be a more realistic proposal, and would provide more benefit to the local industry.
However, when Saudi Arabia ordered a second batch of new-generation Hawk Mk 165 AJT (Advanced Jet Trainer) aircraft in February 2015, it was specified that these aircraft would be completed in-country, using a new Hawk In Kingdom Final Assembly (Hawk IKFA) line established in the former Tornado Programme Depth Maintenance Upgrade (TPDMU) facility at Dhahran.
The Hawks are delivered as major sub-assemblies, consisting of the fuselage, wing, tailplane, and fin. These "kits" of sub-assemblies are air-freighted from Warton in the UK to Dhahran, where they are then assembled for the first time to become a complete aircraft. The Hawk In-Kingdom Final Assembly (IKFA) team then tests, flight tests, and paints the aircraft, and manages acceptance by and delivery to the RSAF.
More than 70 percent of personnel in the IKFA facility are Saudi nationals and the Hawk assembly facility was created with the support of 25 Saudi companies, with many more benefiting across the supply chain.
The first delivery of Hawk 165 parts to Dhahran took place in October 2017. BAE Systems Saudi Arabia chief test pilot Andy Blythe made the first flight of the first Saudi-assembled Hawk 165 (which was the first manned aircraft to be assembled in the Kingdom and was also, coincidentally, the 1,000th Hawk built) on November 4, 2018.
Blythe told AIN, “The aircraft themselves have been assembled very well, based on what I have experienced from the Brough, Warton, and Williamtown (Australia) production lines IKFA has a better strike rate with respect to the tuning required of a hand-built aircraft. The aircraft definitely feels the same as those assembled at Warton, though I never experienced 48°C while test flying at Warton! Not many aircraft perform as well at the extremes of temperature. However, the RSAF are excellent hosts by providing excellent airspace for us to test and a very long runway compared to Warton.”
First deliveries from the new Saudi Hawk production line were originally expected to begin in the third quarter of 2018, but the first of the 22 locally assembled Hawk Mk 165s was ceremonially rolled out on April 1 at Dhahran in the presence of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, deputy prime minister and minister of defense.
The first delivery to the RSAF was made in June 2019, and seven Saudi-assembled aircraft had flown by October 2019. The final kits for assembly by the Hawk IKFA were delivered later in October and the last aircraft is scheduled to be delivered before the end of 2020.
“The skills transferred and experience gained in establishing a Hawk assembly capability in-Kingdom puts the Kingdom in a good place for whatever follow-on contracts are awarded,” observed Ian Wood, Director of Manufacturing Operations, and Hawk IKFA general manager for BAE Systems Saudi Arabia.
The final assembly of 22 Hawks, together with local industrial participation in the assembly of Sikorsky S-70 helicopters, together with the local conversion of Boeing F-15S strike fighters to F-15SR standard, will stand Saudi Arabia in good stead when its aerospace industry moves on to its next goal—which is to produce an indigenously developed aircraft in the mid-2030s.