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Bae Hawk 108/208
In the early 1990s, Malaysia purchased 10 Hawk 108 and 18 Hawk 208 jets from Britain as part of an arms package.
The Hawk 108 is a combat-capable fast jet trainer. Apart from the standard cockpit avionics, the Hawk 108 also comes with a FLIR unit, which is unique among trainers. This enables it to employ various types of air-to-ground munitions in all types of weather conditions. Apart from that, it can also be fitted with 4 AIM-9 Sidewinders and drop tanks to function as a point-defense fighter.
On the other hand, the Hawk 208 is a single-seat multipurpose light attack fighter. This fighter comes fitted with an APG-66H radar, making it capable of undertaking a wide spectrum of missions from air defense to interdiction missions. It has four underwing and a single fuselage pylon capable of carrying iron bombs, cluster bombs, anti-runway rockets, rocket pods and cannon pods. It also has a RWR as well as chaff and flare dispensers for self-defense. It is capable of undertaking a 2 hour patrol at a range of 100 nautical miles from its base with external fuel tanks fitted. The range of the Hawk 208 can be increased by means of air-to-air refueling since it comes with an airborne refueling probe.
The RMAF Hawks also has the honor of forming the air force acrobatic team, known as Panji Wira. A single Hawk 108 and five Hawk 208s form this team.
Over the years, a few Hawks have been lost in incidents with the latest one crashing into the sea during the FDPA STARDEX 2002 exercise off the East Cost. The pilot managed to escape with minor injuries by ejecting from the stricken aircraft. A few years back, another Hawk (unknown type) crashed while landing at Butterworth AFB.

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