Hawk trainer crash prompts UK to ground fleet

Hawk T2 aircraft from 4 Squadron at Royal Air Force Valley take part in a flypast (UK MoD)

BELFAST — The UK Royal Air Force (RAF) has grounded its fleet of Hawk T1 and T2 training jets after one of the aircraft was involved in a crash at RAF Valley, Anglesey, in north Wales.

The service said on social media that it has “temporarily paused” flight operations of both Hawk types and a “formal investigation” into the crash is in motion.

On Wednesday, shortly after taking off from the Welsh training base, both crew members of a T2 aircraft ejected from the jet, as it was then seen nosediving toward the ground and crashing near houses.

The service didn’t say what caused the incident, but said, “Both pilots are doing well … and expected to make a full recovery.”

Addressing the UK space power conference on Wednesday evening, British defense secretary Wes Streeting said , “We’re investigating how and why this happened.”

British defense firm BAE, which makes the Hawk, did not immediately respond to a request for comment today.

RAF Valley serves No 4 Flying Training School, which trains the UK’s “next generation of world-class fighter pilots ,” according to the service.

As Breaking Defense previously reported , the T2 program has long been troubled by engine and support issues, however. “It’s the … pinnacle of our flying training, and we don’t get what we need from Hawk today,” Richard Knighton, then UK Chief of the Air Staff, told the Freeman Air and Space Institute in 2025. “We get about half of what we should get out of it.”

BAE did not comment on Knighton’s remarks at the time, but in January 2025 the company told FlightGlobal that it was “supporting analysis with customers around the world, including the RAF[.]”

The Hawk T1 is also used by the Red Arrows aerobatic display team, while a fleet of 28 T2 types support RAF and Royal Navy fast jet training, following a £450 million ($581 million) contract placed with BAE Systems in 2006.

In August, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) issued a request for information as an initial step toward replacing the two Hawk types. A host of competitors are likely to be involved in the tender process or have already signalled interest, including BAE Systems pitching the T-7A in collaboration with Boeing and Saab, Leonardo offering the M-346, Lockheed Martin proposing the TF-50 and Turkish Aerospace in position with its Hurjet trainer.

来自英国皇家空军谷基地第4中队的Hawk T2飞机参加了飞行表演（英国国防部）

贝尔法斯特——英国皇家空军（RAF）已停飞其所有 Hawk T1 和 T2 教练机，此前其中一架飞机在北威尔士安格尔西岛的 RAF Valley 基地发生坠毁事故。

该机构在社交媒体上表示，已“暂时停止”两种鹰式直升机的飞行作业，并已对坠机事件展开“正式调查”。

周三，一架T2飞机从威尔士训练基地起飞后不久，两名机组人员从飞机上弹射逃生，随后飞机机头朝下俯冲向地面，坠毁在房屋附近。

航空公司没有说明事故原因，但表示“两名飞行员情况良好……预计将完全康复”。

英国国防大臣韦斯·斯特里廷周三晚在英国太空力量会议上发表讲话时表示：“我们正在调查此事是如何发生的以及为什么发生的。”

生产鹰式教练机的英国国防公司 BAE 今天没有立即回应置评请求。

据英国皇家空军称，皇家空军谷地基地是英国第4飞行训练学校的基地，该校负责训练英国“下一代世界一流的战斗机飞行员”。

正如《防务新闻》此前报道，T2项目长期以来一直受到发动机和支持问题的困扰。时任英国空军参谋长的理查德·奈顿在2025年接受弗里曼航空航天研究所采访时表示：“这是我们飞行训练的巅峰，但我们现在无法从‘鹰’式教练机上获得所需的一切。我们只能获得应有性能的一半左右。”

BAE当时没有对奈顿的言论发表评论，但在2025年1月，该公司告诉FlightGlobal，它“正在为世界各地的客户提供分析支持，包括英国皇家空军”。

Hawk T1 也供红箭特技飞行表演队使用，而 28 架 T2 型飞机则为英国皇家空军和皇家海军的快速喷气式飞机训练提供支持，这是在 2006 年与 BAE 系统公司签订了一份价值 4.5 亿英镑（5.81 亿美元）的合同之后获得的。

今年8月，英国国防部发布了一份信息征询书，作为替换两款“鹰”式教练机的第一步。众多竞争者可能参与竞标或已表示出兴趣，其中包括英国航空航天系统公司（BAE Systems）与波音和萨博合作推出的T-7A教练机、莱昂纳多公司提供的M-346教练机、洛克希德·马丁公司提出的TF-50教练机，以及土耳其宇航公司提供的“赫尔杰特”教练机。