Goodbye Sea Harrier We will miss ye

Thanks SteveO 😮

What does it mean? The FAA has no longer aircraft for his carriers??? :confused:
HMS ARkroyal doesn’t operate sea harrier.
Italy, USMC and Spain are still operatig them, why?

The FAA will now operate Harrier GR9’s. The USMC, Spanish and Italian navies operate Harrier II+, not Sea Harrier FA2’s.

What does it mean? The FAA has no longer aircraft for his carriers??? :confused:
HMS ARkroyal doesn’t operate sea harrier.
Italy, USMC and Spain are still operatig them, why?

In hind sight its a shame that they didnt go for the original supersonic harrier, the engine had already been built and a prototype was under construction.

The RN/FAA version of the P.1154 did look very nice and if it had been successful the history of V/STOL aircraft would be a lot different.

The UK/US AV-16 was another missed opportunity that looked good. Pics from http://prototypes.free.fr/p1127/p1127-8.htm

In hind sight its a shame that they didnt go for the original supersonic harrier, the engine had already been built and a prototype was under construction.

This is a interesting read – THE DECOMMISSIONING OF THE SEA HARRIER (2002) http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmselect/cmdfence/779/77908.htm

It bugs me that they decided not to take the radars from the Sea Harriers and put them in the Gr.9s … until the F35 comes along our carrier capability is severely reduced.

As sealordlawrence said this would have been very expensive because the RAF Harrier II fuselage is not big enough for the Blue Vixen radar and would have needed replacing with a Harrier II+ fuselage like the USMC, Spanish and Italian navies operate 🙁

by my opinion 2 bombs and 2 missles ain’t gonna cut it with a carrierbourne vstol strike system nowadays. They should have ordered the harrier 2 instead of a pimped out shar

2 bombs and 2 missiles are the standard armament for a F-35B JSF 😉

Unfortunately ordering the Harrier II+ for the FAA instead of the Sea Harrier FA2 wasn’t really a option at the time, the available money and program timescales didn’t match up. In hindsight it’s a shame the Harrier II wasn’t designed to be radar capable in the first place.

I love the SHAR but I have to admit it’s capability/performance mismatch made it a easy target for defence cuts. I would have liked to see more effort put into improving it’s performance with simple fixes like better engine nozzles, lift improvement devices (LIDs) and weight saving measures such as lighter weapons (500lb JDAM?), lighter pylons, fuel tanks and access panels.

Unfortunately to do that would have cost some 15 million per plane. It would have been cheaper to give the SHAR the same engine as the GR-9A and the ASRAAM.
It is true that capability is reduced but with the T-45’s coming along and absolutly no opponent with which the UK will have to figh on its own where the SHAR would be a must have on the cards, its not an apocolyptic situation.
And before anybody mentions Argentina, that country is an economic ruin with even less capability than they had in 1982. If I remember correctly the UK spends more on defending the Falklands every year than Argentina does on its entire defense budget. Thats not even mentioning politics, this isnt the 80’s, if Argentina invavded she would be branded an aggressor in the UN and sanctions would rapidly follow, it would not even surprise me to see US military support in any military action to reatake them if by some bizaare series of twists of fate it ever came to that.

It bugs me that they decided not to take the radars from the Sea Harriers and put them in the Gr.9s … until the F35 comes along our carrier capability is severely reduced.

Thats exactly what I was thinking.

Phil 🙂

That’s really sad and nostalgic day. There’s F-35 in the future of course, but that’s diff story

by my opinion 2 bombs and 2 missles ain’t gonna cut it with a carrierbourne vstol strike system nowadays. They should have ordered the harrier 2 instead of a pimped out shar

🙁 Sea Harrier jet soars into history – http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolavconsole/ukfs_news/hi/bb_wm_fs.stm?&news=1&bbwm=1&bbram=1&nol_storyid=4761130

Certainly an aircraft that made an impact on history!

It bugs me that they decided not to take the radars from the Sea Harriers and put them in the Gr.9s … until the F35 comes along our carrier capability is severely reduced.

That’s really sad and nostalgic day. There’s F-35 in the future of course, but that’s diff story

I am not even english but I am very sad 🙁

FRS1 4ever :diablo:
/Dan

Bye-bye. Thanks for all you’ve done for us, harrier!

*waves*

dont worry, the last of this noble breed is still living in indian hands and will soldier on atleast until 2010.

A very sad day, six years too early of course.

They were great aircraft, piloted by great pilots.

Just a shame that the govt is totally ignorant of Sea Power and the multi-role abilities of the Shar.

Amen!

Maybe this is why Argentina’s getting uppity re. the Falklands …

A very sad day, six years too early of course.

They were great aircraft, piloted by great pilots.

Just a shame that the govt is totally ignorant of Sea Power and the multi-role abilities of the Shar.

🙁 Sea Harrier jet soars into history – http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolavconsole/ukfs_news/hi/bb_wm_fs.stm?&news=1&bbwm=1&bbram=1&nol_storyid=4761130