Harrier Jump Jet

Harrier Jump Jet
Javier Rodríguez from Palma de Mallorca, España · CC BY-SA 2.0 · source
Name	Harrier Jump Jet
Type	V/STOL ground-attack and fighter aircraft
Manufacturer	Hawker Siddeley / British Aerospace / BAE Systems
First flight	1960s
Introduced	1969
Status	Retired/Active (varies by operator)

Harrier Jump Jet The Harrier Jump Jet is a family of British-designed V/STOL fixed-wing aircraft developed by Hawker Siddeley and later produced by British Aerospace, BAE Systems and partners. Designed for shipborne and expeditionary use, the Harrier combined vectored-thrust turbofan technology with compact airframe layout to operate from rudimentary surfaces, forward bases, and aircraft carriers. Its development involved collaboration and competition among manufacturers, procurement bodies, and armed services across the United Kingdom, United States, Spain, Italy, India, and other states.

Development and Design

Conceived during the Cold War to address dispersed basing needs, the Harrier emerged from research at Rolls-Royce and experimental work at English Electric and Hawker Siddeley; early prototypes flew alongside projects at Royal Aircraft Establishment and received interest from the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. Design choices balanced thrust vectoring from the Rolls-Royce Pegasus engine with lightweight materials developed by Smiths Industries, Dowty Rotol propulsors, and avionics supplied by Ferranti, Marconi, and Hawker Siddeley Dynamics. Structural layout incorporated a high-mounted wing, large underfuselage diffuser, and swiveling exhaust nozzles inspired by V/STOL work at Bell Aircraft, NASA wind-tunnel studies, and flight-test programs at USAF test squadrons and RAF Boscombe Down. Program management included coordination with procurement agencies such as the Ministry of Defence procurement arms, and export negotiations involved entities like Lockheed Martin and national ministries.

Operational History

Entering service with squadrons of the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy in the late 1960s and 1970s, the Harrier operated from HMS Ark Royal (R09), HMS Hermes (R12), forward operating bases in West Germany, and austere sites used by RAF Germany and NATO allies. Export customers included the United States Marine Corps, Spanish Navy, Italian Navy, Indian Navy, Royal Malaysian Air Force, Colombian Air Force, and others, each integrating the type into national force structures alongside platforms like the F-4 Phantom II, Sea Harrier, AV-8B Harrier II derivatives, and multirole fighters from Dassault and Saab. Upgrades across service lives drew on avionics suites from Honeywell, sensor packages from Goodrich, and weapon integrations from MBDA and BAE Systems.

Variants and Models

Variants evolved from early prototypes and Harrier GR.1 series to later GR.3, T.4 trainer, and export-focused GR.5/GR.7/GR.9 developmental lines, with parallel navalized Sea Harrier derivatives employed by the Royal Navy and export customers. The Anglo‑American AV‑8B project and licensed manufacture by McDonnell Douglas produced the AV-8B Harrier II with composite structures and updated mission computers supplied by Westinghouse, Raytheon, and Smiths Aerospace. Other adaptations included two-seat trainers, reconnaissance pods fielded with companies like Kongsberg and Thales, and STOVL demonstrators evaluated by agencies such as DARPA and national test centers including NAS Patuxent River.

Technical Specifications and Performance

Propulsion centered on the vectored-thrust Rolls-Royce Pegasus turbofan with rotating nozzles, augmented by bypass and afterburner technologies investigated by Snecma and Pratt & Whitney for derivative studies. Airframe employed aluminum alloys and composite fairings developed by British Aerospace research labs and subcontractors like Fokker and BAE Systems subsidiaries. Typical avionics included inertial navigation systems from Ferranti or Honeywell, radar warning receivers from BAE Systems Avionics, and weapon management systems compatible with ordnance from MBDA, Hughes, ThalesRaytheonSystems, and General Dynamics. Performance envelopes allowed short vertical takeoffs and rolling jumps, carrier ski-jump launches used by Royal Navy and Spanish Navy, and payloads integrating AIM-9 Sidewinder, unguided rockets, precision guided munitions from Lockheed Martin, and reconnaissance pods.

Operators and Deployment

Primary operators included the Royal Air Force, Royal Navy, United States Marine Corps, Spanish Navy, Italian Navy, and Indian Navy, with secondary users such as the Royal Malaysian Air Force, Venezuelan Air Force, Thailand Royal Air Force, Colombian Air Force, and Indonesian Navy at various times. Deployments spanned NATO exercises with SHAPE, expeditionary operations under United Nations mandates, carrier task groups including Task Force 317, and joint operations alongside platforms like the F/A-18 Hornet, Eurofighter Typhoon, Mirage 2000, and Su-27 families.

Combat Use and Notable Engagements

Harriers saw combat in conflicts including the Falklands War, where naval and RAF Sea Harriers and land-based Harrier squadrons operated from Port Stanley and carriers such as HMS Hermes (R12), and in Gulf War coalition operations where AV‑8Bs and UK Harriers conducted close air support and interdiction missions. Other engagements included sorties over Bosnia and Herzegovina during NATO operations, air support in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, and counterinsurgency operations with coalition partners and nation-state campaigns involving air arms like USMC and regional air forces. Weapons employment and tactical evolution were documented in after-action reviews by institutions such as NATO, US Department of Defense, UK Ministry of Defence, and defense think tanks.

Category:Fixed-wing aircraft