As provider of the UK’s Military Flying Training System (UKMFTS) since 2008, our team at Ascent Flight Training witness at first-hand the passion and dedication demonstrated by the exceptional young men and women of the British Armed Forces.
Our mission is to turn raw recruits into effective aircrew – enhancing the UK’s key defence capabilities by designing, developing and delivering a modern and efficient training system that creates the next generation of military aircrew for frontline missions. We do this through a unique combination of synthetic flight training devices, full flight simulators, classroom teaching and live flying.
As part of the 2025 Strategic Defence Review, the Government affirmed its intent for an open and competitive process to replace the Hawk aircraft, currently used for fast jet pilot training, with an advanced jet trainer.
“Modernising our training systems is essential to preparing aircrew for the demands of next‑generation combat air. The RAF must adapt its training pipeline to ensure pilots are ready to operate advanced platforms…this requires investment in synthetic environments, advanced simulators, and the replacement of legacy training aircraft, including the Hawk T1 and T2.”
Strategic Defence Review 2025: Making Britain Safer
However, updating fast jet pilot training is not just about procuring a new aircraft, it’s about delivering a fully integrated training system, exploiting the benefits of live, virtual and constructive technologies, augmented reality and an embedded training system driven by Artificial Intelligence. This will enable data-driven performance tracking and seamless progression for trainees to Operational Conversion Units.
Our continued engagement across all of industry suggests a strong suite of contenders, which should drive appropriate behaviours ahead of and during competition, these include:
- Boeing/BAE T-7A Red Hawk
- KAI TF-50 Golden Eagle
- Leonardo M-346 Master
- Pilatus PC-21
- Aero Vodochody L-39 Skyfox
- TAI Hürjet
- Aeralis Phoenix Modular Jet Concept
Each offers distinct and compelling capabilities, but the winning solution must deliver training outcomes, system integration, and future-readiness as a cohesive network, and one not just based on airframe performance.
The entire aircrew training pipeline, from ground school, through elementary, basic and advanced training, is an integrated ecosystem. Any Hawk replacement will cause ripples up and down this pipeline. Ascent, as the MOD’s Training Service Provider is uniquely placed to help the MOD maintain cohesion across the overall system, ensuring that whatever solution is selected to replace Hawk, it will be effective in the context of the overall training structure.
Without this, we risk driving inefficiencies, cost and time, into other parts of the training pipeline – during a new era of threat, when a strong Defence position is crucial for the safety of the UK. At Ascent, we remain committed to supporting the RAF and our partners in shaping a warfighting readiness, ensuring the UK’s military aircrew remain the best-prepared in the world.
