The first Hawk jet training aircraft assembled in Saudi Arabia was launched earlier this week. Some of its parts were also manufactured locally, said a report.

HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, the Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, launched and unveiled the aircraft, at the event which took place at King Abdulaziz Air Base in the Eastern Sector, added the Saudi Press Agency report.

Upon arrival, the Crown Prince was briefed on the stages of assembling and manufacturing the main parts of the Hawk by Saudi youth, the tests on the plane after the assembly, the test of acceptance of the aircraft after flight, as well as an explanation of the initiatives of the Saudi-British programme of transfer and localisation of technology. More than 70 per cent of Saudis are working on the assembly of 22 Hawk aircraft after more than two years of training.