History
The U.S. Army HAWK (Homing All-the-Way Killer) Low Altitude Surface-To-Air Missile System was announced to the public on October 27, 1959 by Raytheon Manufacturing Co., the prime-contractor, and Northrop Aircraft, Inc. the principal sub-contractor for airframe components and system support equipment. This system was Uncle Sam’s technological answer to the problem of a low altitude air attack which might effectively elude our high altitude NIKE-AJAX Defence System. The problem which instigated this weapon was in evidence at close of World War 2, when enemy aircraft frequently managed to launch surprise raids against our Okinawan Invasion Fleet in Buckner Bay, by flying at low altitude behind mountains, ridges and point of land, which enabled them to elude detection by our radar network. The HAWKs outstanding ability to seek out and destroy invaders even at tree top level in due to use of a radically advanced radar technique in the Missile’s guidance system. It’s top secret radar “eye” is designed to ignore stationary objects such as trees, hills or buildings, but it will instantly trigger a high explosive missile towards any threatening moving aerial target.

Another unique aspect of the HAWK System is the extreme mobility of its ground support equipment, which permits HAWK batteries to be transported rapidly by ground or air-lift to front line positions with the fast moving assault forces of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. The HAWK System has been designed for maximum safety when used at fixed installations surrounding American cities. First emplacements were located in New York City and Washington D.C. The main units ot the HAWK System are the Radar Trailer, the Launcher Trailer, the HAWK Transporter/Loader and the HAWK Missiles, which load and are fired electronically from triple-launcher unit. The Radar System aims the Launcher, fires and then steers the Missiles until they lock on target and down the low flyinginvader. The HAWK XM-501 Transporter/Loader is one of the niftiest vehicle in the U.S.Army’s inventory. Originally fielded in 1959, they were built by Northrop Corporation of Anaheim, California. They were designed by FMC. One of the smallest tracked vehicles ever placed into service by the U.S. The hydraulically powered lifting beams can roll, circle, retract, extend, elevate and depress, allowing the operator to precisely and carefully place the three 1,200 pound Missiles onto the Launcher. It can lift a total load which is over 100% of its own weight. Power for the XM-501 was provided by a Willys model MD, four-cylinder, water-cooled, gasoline engine adapted from a M38 Jeep. a Chrysler Powerflite two-speed torque converter automatic transmission passed power to a controlled differential and two final drives. Steering and braking are by levers.

Development of The HAWK System took place in 1952 with the U.S. Army awarding a full-scale development contract to Raytheon for the Missile in July 1954 and Northrop providing the Launcher and ground equipment. The first test firing took place in June 1956 when a HAWK Missile successfully shot down a QF-80 Drone Aircraft. The development phase was completed in July 1957. Initial operational capability (IOC) of the Basic HAWK MIM-23A took place in 1959 with the U.S. Army, initially deploying 13 battalions, each with 6 or 12 triple Launchers in West Germany, Okinawa and the Panama Canal Zone. The following year, the U.S. Marines took delivery of HAWK. In total the USA uses 700+ Launchers. It’s capability was demonstrated with the successful interception of an Honest John Rocket and a Corporal Missile in 1960. In 1960 a NATO memorandum of Understanding was signed between Holland, France,, Italy, Belgium, West Germany and the United States for co-production of the system in Europe. In addition special grant aid arrangements were made to deliver European-built systems to Spain, Greece and Denmark and direct sale arrangements of US-built systems were made with Japan, Israel and Sweden. The Japanese sale soon expanded into a country-to-country co-production agreement. In the same region, the United States also made grant aid deliveries of HAWK to Taiwan and South Korea. The Improved HAWK (I-HAWK) was developed during the 1960’s, entering production in 1968, ready for deployment with the 7th U.S. Army in West Germany in November 1972. I-HAWK had a new Acquisition Radar, a new Guidance Group giving greater range and capability against small manoevring targets, Solid-State Electronics giving lighter weight and better reliability, faster reaction time, and an improved Missile which had a greater range, larger warhead, and was capable of being treated like a round of ammunition. Japan built most of the system under license from 1968 until 1978 and other overseas users included Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Denmark, Greece, Israel, Jordan, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan and Thailand.

Further improvements are being made by the European consortium to the NATO-based systems, and additional sales have been made to Egypt, Singapore, Bahrain, Norway, Oman, Quatar and the UAE. To increase the mobility of some Basic HAWK Batteries, the U.S. Army fielded several Self-Propelled HAWK Platoons. These consisted of three M727 vehicles, based on the M548 tracked Cargo Carrier, each carrying three ready to fire missiles and towing one piece of ground equipment. They have now withdrawn from service. Israel is believed to have a number of these S.P. Launchers still in service. In September 1977 the U.S. Armed Forces started a second modernisation effort the designation HAWK-PIP (Product Improvement Program). This included an Improved CW Acquisition Radar (ICWAR) transmitter to double the output power and increase detection range. Also Digital Moving Target Indication (MTI) to the Pulse Acquisition Radar (PAR) and the inclusion of Army Tactical Data Link (ATDL) communications within the system. The Phase 2 upgrade modefications were approved for production in 1983. These greatly improved the reliability of the High Powered Illumination (HPI) Radar by replacing vacuum-tube circuits with modern solid-state technology and added the Tracking Adjunct System (TAS) optical tracking system for operation in an ECM environment to the HPI, by Battery Control Center (BCC) and the Platoon Command Post (PCP). The Phase 3 upgrade programme, which started development in 1983, came into production in 1989. This programme makes major modifications to many of the system’s major items. Among the HAWK items designed and developed by Northrop are the Loader/Transporter, crane attachment, ramps, winter kits, hoisting beam, hoist adapter, track cleats, wings/elevons, actuator and tracking adjunct system. By 1996 Northrop had built 775+ Loader/Transporters, 2,600+ three-round launchers, 38,000+ sets of wings/elevons, 38,000+ actuators and 500+ tracking adjunct system with production continuing.

The price (in 1998) per missile is $250,000; per fire unit $15,000,000; and per battery $30,000,000. Approximately 40,000 HAWK Missiles have been delivered to all users. Latest news. Raytheon will be staffing a HAWK Phase 3 program in Egypte in the last quarter of 1999.

HAWK combat facts
Not surprisingly, Israel was the first country to use the Basic-HAWK in combat during the 1967 June War. It had destroyed one of it own Dassault Mirage Mystère IVA fighters with the incapacitated pilot on board to prevent it crashing into the nuclear facility at Dimona. They followed this by the first combat launch on 24 May 1969 when an Egyptian MiG-21 flying near Kantara, over the Suez Canal, was hit at about 6700m altitude. By the end of the War of Attrition in August 1970, Basic HAWK had accounted for 12 Egyptian aircraft, one Ilyushin Il-28 Beager, four Sukhoi Su-7 Fitters, four MiG-17 Frescoes and three MiG-21 Fishbeds. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War around 75 HAWK rounds were used against Syrian, Iraqi, Libyan and Egyptian aircraft and destroyed four MiG-17s, one MiG-21, three Sukhoi Su-7s, one HAWKer Hunter, one Dassault Mirage 5 and two Mil Mi-8 helicopters.

U.S. ARMY MM-23 RAYTHEON HAWK MOBILE ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUIDED MISSILE SYSTEM BASIC, EARLY TYPE 1957

The next use by the Israelis was its I-HAWK configuration during the June 1982 Peace of Galilee War when a Syrian MiG-21 was destoyed. In March 1989 Israeli Air Force Missile Units had shot down 42 Arab aircraft by Basic-HAWK, I-HAWK and Chaparral SAM’s. However, before the last two Israeli uses, Iran’s armed forces used I-HAWKs against the Iraqi Air Force on several occasions. In 1974 Iran supported the Kurds in a rebellion against Iraq using HAWKs to shoot down most of the 18 planes claimed by the Kurds and then, on 14 and 15 December 1974, destroyed two Iraqi fighters on armed reconnaissance missions over Iran. Following the 1980 invasion and up to the end of the war, Iran is believed to have shot down at least 40 aircraft with this weapon. France became a combat user of I-HAWK when it deployed one battery to Chad to defend the capital, N’Djamena. On 7 September 1987 it shot down a Lybyan Air Force Tupolev Tu-22 Blinder bomber which was trying to bomb the airport. Kuwaiti I-HAWK batteries were used extensively against Iraqi aircraft and helicopters during the August 1990 invasion. A total of 15 Iraqi jets and one helicopter was destroyed by three I-HAW batteries that were able to engage.

The Renwal Kit
The kit of the HAWK Battery (official Renwal name: Mobile Radar-Guided Missile Army HAWK) dates back to1958 like all the Renwal Military kits. The scale is, like always, 1:32 with over 120 parts. The kit number is M558 with a 1958 price of $1.49.

All Renwal kits are rather coarse which is normal for that time periode, and they have a lot of parts that do not have enough detail and are just not right. The kit consists of a HAWK Launcher with 3 HAWK Missiles and a HAWK Radar. It does not concern a Standard Basic-HAWK, but an Early Type 1957 Basic-HAWK. I did not find this a problem, since I was set on building this type. Next to the Launcher and Radar, I also wanted to build a XM-501 HAWK Full Tracked Transporter/Loader (also an Early Type 1957) and add it to the set. However, this was only possible by entirely building it from scratch.

I bought two original Renwal Blueprints kits several years ago; one to collect and one to build. Since I also wanted to provide the XM-501 HAWK Full Tracked Transporter/Loader with 3 HAWK Missiles, one Renwal Blueprint was not enough, it contained only 3 Missiles and I needed 6. Now what? Buy another original kit? That would become too expensive. Fortunately, Revell brought out many old Renwal kits at the beginning of the eighties with the “Revell History Maker Series”, including the HAWK Battery. Revell kit no. 8611. Just before building it, I bought 4 of these kits at a give-away price. So I had plenty of Missiles and parts. But it was only during the building of the Missiles that I noticed I could use just two (!) parts, after first having them modified. If one would know everything beforehand… Fortunately, the extra parts came in handy. All in all I can say it was, again, a mega-project.

Some details:

• The Renwal kit contained more than 120 parts of which only 73 were used after modification
• In all I used 62 parts out of the scrapbox
• I used 168 connectors of the AFV-Club M48 track-set; I had to thin them
• Finally, I had to scratchbuilt 2012 (!) parts. It took 404 hours to complete this project, including the diorama

Fortunately, I have been collecting lots of documentation through the years under which U.S. Army Technical Manuals and U.S. Army Field Manuals. Without this documentation correct building could not have been possible.

The building was a nightmare sometimes, but after finishing it, it does provide enormous satisfaction, which is the case with all my previous Renwal projects. And fair ‘s fair: it has become, again, an original model-project.

Documentation
This time it was very difficult to find the necessary documentation, photos, drawings and Technical Manuals, especially in comparison with previous Renwal-projects. Main reason for this was, that I wanted to build an Early Type.

To my disappointment, I have noticed that American museums and manufacturers, with some eceptions, were not ready to cooperate. Despite my efforts to convince them that I was serious; I sent them copies of publications concerning previous model projects and some photos. Next to this I told them I would mention their names, but they would not cooperate. Out of 18 museums, only one was ready to help me. For the others it was even too much to send me a note or to send back an e-mail. Alas, that’s the way it is.

However, I am extremely happy with the cooperation of some enthousiastic people, especially Warren Schoenknecht, Redstone Arsenal, USA. Without their cooperation, I could not have started this model project.

A) The HAWK XM-3 Missile (Basic, early-type)

B) The HAWK XM-78 Launcher, Trailer Mounted (Basic, early-type)

C) The HAWK Low Power Radar, Trailer Mounted (Basic, early-type)

D) The HAWK XM-501 Full Tracked Transporter/Loader (Basic, early-type)