#704 Hawk Mk203
Description
Squadron Prints Lithograph No. 704 - 130, Hawk Mk.203, 6 Squadron, Masirah, Royal Air Force of Oman.
Formed in March 1975 at the newly rebuilt base of Thumrait, formerly Midway airfield, No.6 Squadron, of The Sultan of Oman’s Air Force (SOAF), was equipped with Hawker Hunters. Declared operational later that year the squadron soon saw action in the late stages of the Dhofar War flying strike and fighter recce missions against the Soviet and Chinese backed rebels based in the Peoples’ Democratic Republic of Yemen. In the late summer of 1993 the Hunter was retired and the squadron redeployed to the Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO) airfield at Masirah to be equipped with 12 of the new single-seat Hawk 203s and 4 two-seat Hawk 103s. The Hawk 203 is equipped with a pulse-doppler radar with both air-to-air and air-to-ground modes. The Hawk 103 carries, in place of the radar, a nose mounted FLIR sensor and a laser range finder. Both aircraft have full head-up displays and modern avionics with blended GPS/INU, carry Sidewinder missiles, an Aden gun, and are fitted with pylons for a recce pod, external fuel tanks and various air-to-ground weapons including 1000lb bombs. The squadron’s main operational role is Air Defence with a secondary air-to-ground and recce role. Its tertiary role is that of a combined AFTS and TWU for the training of potential fast-jet pilots for RAFO.
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