(Redirected from Hawker-Siddeley P.1154)The '
Hawker Siddeley P.1154' was a
supersonic VSTOL fighter aircraft being developed alongside the subsonic
Hawker P.1127/Kestrel. The project was cancelled in 1965.
Development
The project came about as a possible aircraft for use both with the
Royal Air Force and the
Royal Navy. It would replace the
Hawker Hunter in the RAF and the
de Havilland Sea Vixen in the
Fleet Air Arm (FAA). The RAF requirement was for a single seat fighter, the RN a two seat interceptor. Accordingly the design started to diverge with the naval version being the P.1154RN.
Propelled by a single
Bristol Siddeley BS100 vectored thrust
turbofan, the aircraft would have reached supersonic flight speeds from the thrust boost obtained by igniting the engine's PCB (Plenum Chamber Burning) system. Rolls-Royce offered a PCB, vectored thrust twin-
Spey design as an alternative.
The P.1154 came out equal winner in a
NATO run competition with the
Dassault Mirage IIIV, a separate lift/thrust engine concept. The P.1154 was adjudged technically superior but the Mirage gained points for the scope for cooperative development and production across member nations.
With the RAF and RN requirements diverging, the aircraft was looking less viable. The RN cancelled their interest in 1963, removing the need to meet the requirements of both services, and work on the RAF P.1154 prototype started. However, the following year the government cancelled the P.1154 along with the
BAC TSR-2. Following the cancellation the RAF and RN adopted the
F-4 Phantom II instead, but the government also gave a contract for continued work on the P.1127, which led to the
Harrier.
Specifications (P,1154)
References
External links
★
''The P.1154 story'' at Harrier.org.uk
★
Hawker P.1154 and P.1152
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