Gloster Javelin

The next production version of the Javelin was the "Javelin FAW.2", which was fitted with American Westinghouse AN/APQ-43 radar, known as AI.22 in British service.

The AN/APQ-43 was supplied to the UK under the US Mutual Defense Assistance Program (MDAP).

The FAW.2 featured a larger nose radome, which could be pulled outward and hinged to the side to give access to the radar for service; the FAW.1's radome, in contrast, had to be unbolted and removed.

The FAW.2 was otherwise hard to tell from the FAW.1. Some sources claim that the Sabrina tanks were introduced on the FAW.2 and not used on the FAW.1, but this is hard to confirm.

In practice, although the AI.17 had suffered from teething problems, after some time in service it proved reliable enough, and though the AN/APQ-43 was a more sophisticated radar set on paper, it actually didn't prove to be much of an advance in practice.

Initial flight of the first FAW.2 was on 22 October 1955, and 30 FAW.2s were built.

The "Javelin FAW.5" was an FAW.4 with a new wing that incorporated flexible fuel tanks in the outer wings to counter complaints about the Javelin's poor endurance.

Some sources describe the FAW.5 as an FAW.1 with the new wing, implying that it did not incorporate the aerodynamic improvements of the FAW.4, but pictures show the wing to be fitted with the rows of vortex generators, and presumably the FAW.5 also had the all-moving tailplane.

Initial flight of the FAW.5 was on 26 July 1956, with 64 built, again with production split between Gloster and Armstrong-Whitworth.