T-7 ‘offers different way' for RAF to do pilot training, say BAE Systems

An artist's rendering of the Boeing-Saab T-7 Red Hawk that BAE Systems is offering to the RAF as a Hawk T2 replacement. (BAE Systems)

The Boeing-Saab T-7 Red Hawk will afford the UK “a different way” of conducting fast jet pilot training should the Royal Air Force (RAF) select it to replace the BAE Systems Hawk T2, a campaign official said on 18 June 2026.

Speaking to Janes and other defence media at BAE Systems' Warton site, the company's T-7 campaign director, Chris Hunter, said that the T-7 should be viewed as a system rather than an aircraft, and that it will fundamentally change how the RAF approaches pilot training.

“How we are thinking of this is as a training system and not a training aircraft, and we are not looking at a one-for-one like-replacement for the Hawk,” Hunter said. “The ability to train in a different way using this advanced system changes some of the assumptions around how you set up your syllabus, how you set up your [training] profiles, and how you do your business. Judging it against today's standards, I think there is a different way of doing things.”

As Hunter explained, this “different way” would see the full sortie delivering a training benefit, as opposed to now when this only happens once the Hawk has arrived on station in its designated training area.