HAL upgrades Hawk trainer with Indian-designed equipment

Jan. 26 (UPI) -- HAL of India has performed its first upgrade of a Hawk jet trainer, swapping out imported mission computer and data transfer units with its own equipment.

The upgraded Hawk MK132, designated the Hawk-i, is to be shown at an upcoming aerospace exhibition in India and will perform a number of aerial displays.

"This is the 100th Hawk aircraft produced at HAL ...," T. Suvarna Raju, chairman and managing director of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited said in a news release. "HAL had conceived a program for indigenous upgradation of the Hawk Mk132 for achieving self-reliance and has successfully accomplished it."

The Hawk MK132 is manufactured in India under license from BAE Systems.

HAL said the HAL-developed mission computer on the aircraft is in a dual redundant configuration and has additional capabilities, such as digital map generation.

The Hawk-i also provides secured voice communication and data link capability by integration of Softnet Radio.

Its Embedded Virtual Training System offers improved training capability over the existing system, HAL said.