Wednesday 20 October 2010

Harrier Jump Jet Retired Early - UK Defence Cuts

It was announced yesterday that the entire UK Harrier force is to be retired early. All flying will have ceased by 1 Apr 2011. As someone who has had the privilege to be involved with this great aircraft, I must confess I'm totally gutted by the decision.
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This is an interesting article about the aircraft on the BBC web site: Link
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6 comments:

Eli Arndt said...

That is sad, but aren't Harriers pretty tough on maintenance?

Vulture said...

Eli
They are no tougher than Tornados, and in fact are more reliable and cheaper to operate.

Eli Arndt said...

Wonder if they will be selling them off to other countries?

Clovis Cithog said...

I thought the Harriers biggest limitation was their flight range;
only about 300km with a vertical and horizontal take off ?

Vulture said...

Eli

The UK doesn't have a history of storing its aircraft like the US does, so yes I imagine we will try to sell them on.

Vulture said...

Clovis

Range has never been that big an issue with the Harrier. BTW they only ever do vertical take-offs at airshows, fully laden (bombed up) a Harrier can't take off vertically. They can land vertically with some ordanance provided the fuel tanks are empty.