HAWK-i Aircraft

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It was on 21st January, 2021 that Hindustan Aeronautics Limited achieved a major milestone by successfully test firing a Smart Anti Airfield Weapon (SAAW) from the Hawk-i aircraft off the coast of Odisha.

About

The SAAW is an accurate strike weapon that can be used to spot enemy airfield assets such as radars, bunkers, taxi tracks and runways. It is indigenously developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization’s research centre Imarat, having a range of 100 km. It was test-fired from the IAF’s Jaguar fighter planes. It is the first smart weapon fired from an Indian Hawk-Mk132.

The mission’s success was confirmed by the telemetry and tracking system that captured all the events of the trial.

Through these activities HAL is enhancing the training and combat capability of HAWK-i.

Indigenously upgraded Hawk Mk132 was rolled out by HAL on the eve of Republic Day in 2017. This technology substituted the imported Mission Computer and Data Transfer Units used in the upgraded aircraft.

HAWK-i has secured voice communication and data link capacity by integration of Softnet Radio and pilots can compose and select cockpit Human Machine Interface for different aircraft platforms.