HAL successfully test fires smart anti airfield weapon from Hawk-i aircraft

Bengaluru: In a big boost to the indigenous Hawk-i program, HAL on Thursday, successfully test fired a Smart Anti Airfield Weapon (SAAW) from the Hawk-i aircraft off the coast of Odisha. The indigenous stand-off weapon developed by Research Centre Imarat (RCI), DRDO, is the first smart weapon fired from an Indian Hawk-Mk132.

"HAL has been focusing on the Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign. The company owned Hawk-i platform is being extensively used for certification of systems and weapons developed indigenously by DRDO and CSIR labs" said R. Madhavan, CMD, HAL.

The aircraft flown by HAL test pilots Wg Cdr (Retd) P Awasthi and Wg Cdr (Retd) M Patel executed the weapon release in a textbook precision and all mission objectives were met. The telemetry and tracking systems captured all the mission events confirming the success of the trials.

Arup Chatterjee, Director, Engineering and R&D, HAL said HAL is indigenously enhancing training and combat capability of Hawk-i. HAL is in discussions with Indian Armed Forces for integration of various weapons on Hawk platform.

The Hawk-i is HAL's internally funded program offering the Indian Armed Forces an upgrade and combat capability for the Hawk, transforming it into an Advanced Jet Trainer providing training on sensors and weapons in peacetime into a potent combat platform during conflict.

The SAAW is an aircraft launched, advanced, precision strike weapon of 125 kg category used to attack and destroy enemy airfield assets such as radars, bunkers, taxi tracks, runways within a range of 100 kms. SAAW was earlier successfully test-fired from Jaguar aircraft.