China did buy at least one Harrier for R&D purpose. It still sits in one of China ‘s avaiation university.
China did not obtain this aircraft for R & D .. it was later delivered after being withdrawn from RAF service purely for the exhibition !
A British collector presented this Harrier to Beijing Aviation Hall in 1996 while he got a Russian propeller fighter from China as an exchange.
Otherwise I found these “documents” (?) regarding the possible Harrier accisition by China: but I have to admit that I’m not sure if this is a pure “what-if” text or the actual truth as it was discussed at the what-if forum !! :confused:
http://harrier.hyperlinx.cz/gallery/mod8.htm
Background Notes
Improbable though it may seem now, there was a very real possibility of a sale of a substantial number of Harriers to the Chinese in the late Seventies, with a major manufacturing licence agreement to follow. The proposed sale had commitment from British industry and political support at the highest level – from both the Labour and succeeding Conservative administrations.
There were two major sales drives, the first when a Chinese delegation visited Dunsfold in December 1978, which resulted in a Mr Mah, Number Two in the Fighter Command of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army, getting a ‘little fly in G-VTOL and doing the main manoeuvres’. As Mr Mah spoke no English, and Harrier Chief Test Pilot John Farley spoke no Chinese, Farley wrote down all the essential commands, got these validated separately by three interpreters, then had the Chinese commands written alongside Morse code symbols on two pads so he could get the messages across in flight. It must have worked, as G-VTOL returned in one piece.
BAe gave a presentation in Peking a year later, here it became apparent what the intended operational scenario for the Chinese Harrier force was. They were to be deployed along the Russian border at numerous dispersal sites, to counter possible Russian incursions. BAe were convinced that the interest in the Harrier was genuine, although there were some reservations in the British camp over the likely performance from some operating sites that were ‘hot and high’, which would have degraded the hover performance somewhat. (Harriers can’t hover beyond 5000 ft above sea level.)
The Chinese Harrier would have been based on the Sea Harrier FRS.1 design, because it was in production at the time, and offered an improved cockpit and rear view, but would have been fitted with a revised nav/attack system to suit Chinese requirements, (not to mention UK high technology defence export restrictions). There were separate proposals for a naval type with modified Blue Fox radar, this replaced with a laser rangefinder in the FGA Mk 53 land based version, but retaining the basic Sea Harrier airframe. The likely contract was to have been for a hundred or so of UK origin, including some two seaters, with a further two hundred or more licence built at Shenyang.
The massive deal ultimately stalled because of improved Chinese relations with Russia, combined with the effects of inflation on the contract price and reductions in the Chinese defence budget. The inflation angle was viewed by the Chinese with bewilderment – they viewed it as ‘cheating’, being accustomed to their centrally planned economy.
The Chinese Harrier story ends with a truly galling postscript for BAe shareholders…. The spectacular success of the Sea Harrier over the Falklands two years later prompted Mr Mah to contact BAe once more, when he explained that had they known the Harrier was that good, they would have found a way of paying for them anyway!
Text largely paraphrased from ‘Harrier Story’, by Peter E Davies and Tony Thornborough, Arms and Armour Press.
Does anyone have more information on these “Background Notes” ???
Cheers, Deino 😉
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