Hi there,
Thought you might like to know I emailed the Red Arrows last week and asked them the following;
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I wonder if you can help me with a technical enquiry please?
Do you have or do you intend to equip your Hawk T1's with either Mode-S Transponders or better still ADS-B transponders at any time please?
I and many others use hardware/software such as the AirNav Radarbox to track and/or record aircraft movements not only in the UK but Worldwide.
Obviously full ADS-B would be best but I understand and appreciate that as RAF Military aircraft you may not want to divulge positional information (as does most of the RAF fleet) but even they transmit Mode-S usually accompanied with Aircraft Registration/Serial and sometimes Altitude information so at least we would know when you guys are airborne even if we were unable to track your position.
So how about it? :-)
Looking forward to your reply.
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Today I received the following;
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Thanks for your email. You will be interested to know that we are just about start a programme of installing Mode-S transponders in our aircraft. No forecast completion date as yet.
Regards,
John May
J H MAY
Warrant Officer
Red Arrows Adjutant
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If any of you are interested details of their 13 Hawk T1 aircraft are as follows;
XX179
XX227
XX233
XX237
XX242
XX253
XX260
XX264
XX266
XX292
XX294
XX306
XX308
Kind regards,
-=Glyn=-