Celebrating the Global History of the HAWK System

Lauded for its adaptability, dependability and affordability, the HAWK system has been employed by more than 23 countries around the world. Raytheon welcomed six of those countries to the 50th anniversary celebration, including delegations from Saudi Arabia, Germany, Japan, France, Norway and Turkey. Their presence reinforced that the HAWK community is a global one, based upon partnership and good will between nations.

Former Raytheon Chairman and CEO Thomas L. Phillips, whose career with Raytheon spanned 42 years, offered attendees a glimpse into history, sharing his journey with the HAWK program from the time of its inception.

“In 1952 the Army was concerned with how to defend its field army against aircraft,” Phillips explained. “The Army issued Raytheon a test contract worth $2.4 million with 13 tasks. The Raytheon team not only addressed each task in its report, but also submitted an unsolicited proposal for an integrated solution.” As a result of its foresight, Raytheon was awarded the prime contract for the HAWK system on July 1, 1954. “HAWK was the company’s first integrated system,” Phillips explained. “We had to provide the rocket motor, airframe, guidance system, tracker, seeker, radar, illuminator, launcher and battery control center. This would be the first of many integrated systems that Raytheon would develop.” Less than two years later HAWK scored a direct hit, and by 1959 the U.S. Army had fielded its first HAWK batteries.

On June 22, 1956, Raytheon Company’s HAWK air defense system underwent its first test launch and interception of a fast-moving airborne target.

Fifty years later, on June 22, 2006, Raytheon hosted the HAWK 50th Past Present Future reception at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston. The event featured Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and was attended by Raytheon Chairman and CEO William H. Swanson and more than 150 Raytheon leaders, employees, retirees and customers from around the world. It celebrated the technical innovation and proven performance that have made HAWK one of the world’s most important — and longest-lived — defense systems.

Air Defense Trends 1971:

IMPROVED HAWK CONTRACTS AWARDED

The US Army Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, has announced that the Army has awarded Raytheon Company contracts in excess of $50 million which call for Fiscal Year 1971 production of missiles and equipment for the Improved Hawk system. Largest of the awards, which was $26.3 million, called for an undisclosed quantity of missiles, while $20.9 million will be spent for ground support equipment. A smaller contract for $2.8 million calls for additional engineering services on the Hawk system. Most of the work will be performed at Raytheon's Andover, Massachusetts, facility.

Hawk is the Army's air defense system that can destroy high- performance aircraft and air-breathing guided missiles operating at low altitudes. It is deployed with US Army and Marine Corps units in the United States and overseas.

Under the Improved Hawk Program the outward configuration of the 16-foot missile is unchanged, but the missile contains a new guidance package, a larger warhead, and an improved motor propellant.

The Hawk program is managed by US Army Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, and Raytheon Company is the prime contractor.

AIR DEFENSE TRENDS 1969

SELF-PROPELLED HAWK

Service testing of a self-propelled (SP) Hawk platoon will begin soon in the Dona Ana maneuver area of Fort Bliss; The US Army Air Defense Board, as an agency of the US Army Test and Evaluation Command, will conduct the test which will require 6 weeks and will take place under conditions expected in peacetime and wartime service.

The SP Hawk platoon increases the mobility and flexibility of the conventional Hawk battery-a unit already acclaimed for its capability to relocate and prepare for an engagement in record time. The self-propelled Hawk (fig 1) is basically a self-propelled; full-track vehicle equipped with a 60-kilowatt generator mounting a modified launcher with three ready Hawk missiles. The three vehicles in each platoon carry a total of nine missiles and tow two radars and a fire direction central. The compact and independent fire unit is expected to move across terrain impassable to wheeled vehicles and to be emplaced in less time than the basic Hawk battery.

A rigorous schedule, based on the realities of known and expected field service, will test the equipment against design specifications and determine the effectiveness of soldiers to operate and maintain the platoon. Travel over hundreds of miles of road, ranging from paved highway to trails, is designed to test structural strength, collect fuel and oil usage data, and determine the extent of maintenance and repair. The time required to prepare the system for action and fire upon attacking high-performance aircraft will be of special interest.

Other tests will measure the reaction time of men and equipment from the moment of target detection to missile lift-off. Present planning envisions two self-propelled Hawk platoons, equipped with the new full-track vehicles, and one towed Hawk platoon in each Hawk battery. Three self-propelled batteries and a headquarters battery will form a battalion. Battalions converted from basic Hawk to self-propelled will realize an increase in the number of fire units and ready missiles. Two officers, one warrant officer, and approximately 30 enlisted men will man the new self-propelled Hawk platoon.

The report of the service test will be a primary basis for equipment improvement and is a part of the Army's program to insure that new equipment issued to troops is effective, dependable, and safe to operate.

The Hawk, second of the ARADCOM weapons, came into the arsenal in June 1959. Hawk stood for "Homing All the Way Killer" and the missile, effective from treetop level to medium altitude, complements the high-altitude Nike Hercules. The first Hawk units deployed within the continental United States as a part of the active, on-site air defense system were emplaced in southern Florida during the Cuban crisis of October 1962. They are now part of the permanent defenses of ARADCOM. 

The stated mission of self-propelled (SP) Hawk is "to provide all-weather air defense of the division area against low- and medium-altitude aircraft. " A comparison of organization and capabilities between towed and SP Hawk might show how this mission accomplishment is enhanced by SP Hawk. Towed Hawk battalions are organized in the conventional air defense four-firing-battery organization (fig 2), while self-propelled Hawk battalions have only three firing batteries (fig 3). At first glance it would appear that this decrease of one firing battery represents a decrease in capability; an examination of firing battery organization and equipment shows why this is not true. The towed Hawk battery (fig 4) has a firing platoon containing two firing sections; each section has three towed launchers, for a battery total of six. It follows that the towed Hawk battalion's total firepower capability is represented by 24 launchers within the four batteries. The SP Hawk battery (fig 5) has three firing platoons, one towed and two self -propelled. Each platoon has three launchers for a battery total of nine. Thus, the SP Hawk battalion, with its three batteries, has 27 launchers, or three more than does the towed battalion. Looking at it another way, a towed Hawk battalion has eight fire units and an SP battalion has nine.

The towed platoon of an SP battery is the same as a battery (minus) of towed Hawk; i .e. , it contains a battery control central (BCC), pulse acquisition radar (PAR), continuous- wave acquisition radar (CWAR), high-powered illuminator radar (HIPIR), range-only radar (ROR), three towed launchers, generators, and associated equipment. Each SP platoon includes a trailer-mounted BCC which serves as the platoon command post (PCP), CWAR, HIPIR, and three SP launchers with missiles, and such related equipment as the interconnecting box. The SP launcher is a modification of the M548 cargo carrier. Each launcher has its own onboard generator, and Hawk crewmen will be happy to learn that each launcher has a powered cable reel, rather than using GI power (see photo below). Figure 6 shows the SP Hawk firing battery major items of tactical equipment.

Figure 6. Self-propelled Hawk firing battery major items of tactical equipment. men a towed Hawk battery displaces by echelon, or breaks down into two separate fire units, the augmented assault fire unit (AAFU) requires six towed loads of equipment. An SP Hawk firing platoon with the same amount of firepower requires only three towed loads (fig 7). Another facet not yet discussed is identification. With the present towed Hawk battery, the identification, friend or foe (IFF), is transmitted through the antenna of the PAR; consequently, when an AAFU is in operation, there is no identification capability except that transmitted by voice over the unit's organic radios. With SP Hawk,

Figure 7. Comparison of SP Hawk firing sections and towed Hawk augmented assault fire unit. The normal status for an SP Hawk battalion will probably be assignment or attachment to the ADA group at corps level within the field army. Ideally, SP Hawk battalions should be allocated one per division on line. It may prove feasible, especially during offensive operations, to further attach SP battalions to divisions. This brings to light an interesting command and control relationship because the Chaparral/Vulcan battalion commander is the division

air defense officer and will remain so even though Hawk is also attached to the division. The same deployment guidelines as presently used with towed Hawk are still applicable for the SP battalion. Any time Hawk is deployed with Nike Hercules, it should be positioned to complement Nike Hercules with low-altitude coverage; therefore, the primary deployment guideline is early destruction along low-altitude routes of approach. Because of Hawk's relatively short range, defense in depth is important with Hawk units being deployed approximately

one behind the other to insure engagement until target destruction. Also, because of Hawk's small dead zone and because fire units will periodically be nonoperational for maintenance, mutual support is desired within the defense with fire units providing mutual protection and coverage of adjacent units' dead zones. Mutual support can be achieved if fire units are positioned no farther apart than 0.8 of Hawk's maximum effective range. With towed Hawk this is sometimes impossible or impractical because of the size of the defended area.

The fact that SP Hawk has three fire units per battery will make mutual support much easier to achieve, with each battery capable of fighting the air battle from three separate locations simultaneously.

The SP Hawk is even more flexible in deployment options than towed Hawk. With three fire units per battery in the division area, the two SP platoons could be sent forward, up to 10 to 15 kilometers behind the FEBA, while the towed platoon, with its lesser degree of mobility and survivability, could remain in place 20-30 kilometers from the FEBA.

The weapon was placed into operation during 1960, and there are now HAWK battalions deployed by the US Army in West Germany, the Panama Canal Zone, Okinawa, and Vietnam. In addition, five North Atlantic Treaty Organization nations use the HAWK: West Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Sweden, Isræl, Sandia Arabia, Japan, and. the Republic of China have also purchased the HAWK system for their defense. The US Marine Corps placed the HAWK in operation during 1962 and have also deployed it in Vietnam.

Editor's Note: Hawk battalions have recently been withdrawn from the Panama Canal Zone.
HAWK air defense missiles on new self-propelled triple launcher.

 Jane's- All the World Aircraft