Cobham To Provide Hawk Weapons Carriage And Release Equipment

Programs
Aerospace Daily & Defense Report Dec 02 , 2010 , p. 09
Neelam Mathews
Cobham has a received a $28 million order from BAE Systems to supply weapons carriage and release equipment for the Indian Air Force Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer program. The contract award follows India’s purchase of 57 BAE Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer Aircraft (AJT) in July 2010, to be built by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. in India. Forty aircraft have been assigned to the Indian Air Force and the remaining 17 for the Indian Navy. Cobham will deliver significant quantities of Light Duty Ejector Release Units and Carrier Bomb Light Stores (CBLS) training aids to BAE Systems between 2012-14. Cobham’s Carrier Bomb Release System CBLS 2000 provides the facility for carriage and release of up to four practice stores. It conforms to the latest military specification requirements for the Eurofighter, Gripen and latest Hawk variants. Cobham’s weapons carriage and release systems use high-pressure pneumatic technology in place of pyrotechnic systems for suspension and release hardware. Various configurations can be designed depending on weapons load-out requirements and intended aircraft platform. “There will be no changes required for the Indian Navy AJTs,” says Lee Griffiths, CEO of Cobham India.