BELFAST \u2014 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.<\/p>\n
The service said on social media<\/a> that it has \u201ctemporarily paused\u201d flight operations of both Hawk types and a \u201cformal investigation\u201d into the crash is in motion. <\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The service didn\u2019t say what caused the incident, but said, \u201cBoth pilots are doing well \u2026 and expected to make a full recovery.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Addressing the UK space power conference on Wednesday evening, British defense secretary Wes Streeting said<\/a>, \u201cWe\u2019re investigating how and why this happened.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n A spokesperson for British defense firm BAE, which makes the Hawk, said in a statement that the company was \u201caware of the incident involving a Royal Air Force Hawk T2 aircraft at RAF Valley, however, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage. Any enquiries should be directed to the Royal Air Force.\u201c<\/p>\n RAF Valley serves No 4 Flying Training School, which trains the UK\u2019s \u201cnext generation of world-class fighter pilots<\/a>,\u201d according to the service.<\/p>\n As Breaking Defense previously reported<\/a>, the T2 program has long been troubled by engine and support issues, however. \u201cIt\u2019s the \u2026 pinnacle of our flying training, and we don\u2019t get what we need from Hawk today,\u201d Richard Knighton, then UK Chief of the Air Staff, told the Freeman Air and Space Institute<\/a> in 2025. \u201cWe get about half of what we should get out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n BAE did not comment on Knighton\u2019s remarks at the time, but in January 2025 the company told FlightGlobal<\/a> that it was \u201csupporting analysis with customers around the world, including the RAF[.]\u201d<\/p>\n 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 \u00a3450 million<\/a> ($581 million) contract placed with BAE Systems in 2006.<\/p>\n