To answer some other users posts in here, I will first give some background to how modules work in DCS and how they are split and why bugs are showing.

An aircraft module is essentially split into 5 components:
ASM - Advanced System Model
EFM - 3rd party External Flight Model (designation given by ED) or SFM - Standard Flight Model
DM - Damage Model
DFM - Damage Flight Model (what we call it internally)
DRM - Digital Rights Management (Starforce in DCS)

You obviously then have the 3D model, textures, sounds, Etc. but for now let's focus on the coding.

The ASM is tied into the SFM or EFM via DCS. So anything systems wise in the aircraft like switches, dials, functions, controller inputs will affect the flight model. The ASM is continuously talking to DCS which in turn talks to the flight model and vice versa to show your attitude, heading, altitude, speed, engine rpm, etc.

With the Hawk being released on SFM all of those functions were built years ago and pretty much worked without issue (Tango did this coding).
ED then did some updates to the core sim from 1.2.16 to 1.5 and release of 2.0
This fundamentally broke the way our ASM talked to DCS and we worked on getting those fixes patched.
We could not forsee this and had to react to the update in time for the patch.

So, bringing us onto the EFM switch.
Let me start with the DRM and the crash people had when the first 2.0.2 patch came out (which was reverted by ED).
We provided unprotected files to ED and they do the Starforce protection. This was the deal set with ED for Hawk.
The protection they ran on the EFM caused 1fps slowdown, coupled with the CPU issue this meant Hawk was unflayable.
This issue did not show up to us on the test system and therefore it was as much a surprise to us as you.

Then onto the re-patch of 2.0.2 and some people experiencing CTD's.
None of our testers or team have had this crash and probably the reason is that we always delete our saved control profiles before a patch, something standard we do for a control input update, which in this case was the addition of toe brakes with the EFM.
Only some people have experienced the CTD issue and deleting the saved input profiles has fixed it for most.
In consultation with ED we have also made changes in the code and are currently waiting for ED to provide protected files for people to test.
Again, we simply did not know this would happen and was not picked up by us prior to release.

Yes, some things don't work in the EFM Hawk and I am the first to admit that.
There are various reasons for this which I will try to explain.

Weapons selector - ED changed something in the base sim to do with weapon types which broke in 1.5. This has broken the weapons selector and we are currently re-coding it based on ED's suggestion. So far we are still experiencing problems which is why it has not been patched yet.

With the introduction of the EFM we had to re-code the way the ASM talks to DCS and in turn the EFM and vice versa.
This has also broken a few things along the way.
As I said, Tango coded all of the original ASM. He elected not to work on Hawk anymore so we brought in new coders. They have had to learn all of the 8000 lines of Tango's code and re-write a lot of processes to work with EFM.
Some things are higher priority than others, like actually being able to fly the aircraft, start the engines and all of the systems allowing you to fly.

ED also changed the atmospheric system in DCS which has had an effect on multiple systems; like the canopy being able to be opened during flight and oxygen hypoxia.
These were low on the fix list compared to actually having oxygen flowing through the engine so you could fly, a problem which presented itself more with the prop aircraft but did affect Hawk.

These issues have culminated in a few things still being broken and some new things cropping up and some left to fix later as they are not critical to you enjoying flying the aircraft.

We are working through a bug list that our testers, ED testers and the public have highlighted and have already fixed a lot of things ready for the upcoming patch.

Engine sounds were something we introduced with the EFM. This is the first iteration of sound integration within the cockpit and is still being worked on by our sound engineer and coding team.
I uploaded files to ED's server before the patch that fixed engine sounds but they did not make it in time for the release build.
They will be better in the upcoming patch BUT are still being worked on.

Damage model; something I see mudslinger here is very fond of showing rather than actually flying the plane.
Again with the EFM we had to see how the existing DM worked with the DFM. Shoot a wing off and does the aircraft roll violently or slowly. All questions posed to our 6 real life Hawk pilots which of course is theoretical as they haven't actually been shot down or lost a wing.
We set the level of damage within the lua code; 25%, 50% and 100% damage level.
We provide a collision model.
The sim then works out the rest itself.
These values can be tweaked up or down giving damage level earlier or later if a cell of the collision model is hit.
My own opinion in this matter is that other aircraft in DCS, AI or modules damage way to easily. The slightest touch and they burst into flames.
That is not realistic and as many of you keep telling me you want realism.
That being said, yes there are issues like mudslinger has kindly pointed out on his video that the wing should snap when ploughing into the ground after take off.
But, stating that the avionics is off only shows his lack of understanding on how DCS damage models work.

In summary, we decided to release the product in Beta state officially in April last year. Prior to that was a pre-release version so people could experience the aircraft as we developed it.
These versions were very clear on our website and ED's so if you have bought it so far, you should expect to see bugs with each update until it is in final release.
This is the nature of most games these days and this will not change for DCS, get used to it or don't buy a module until it's in release state.

After explaining how some core elements of DCS ACTUALLY work, rather than a non-educated view, please go ahead and ask questions which I will happily answer.

Thanks,
Chris,