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:

  1. Eli Arndt21 October 2010 at 05:33

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

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  2. Vulture21 October 2010 at 23:39

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

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  3. Eli Arndt22 October 2010 at 00:37

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

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  4. Clovis Cithog23 October 2010 at 12:52

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

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  5. Vulture24 October 2010 at 09:57

    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.

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  6. Vulture24 October 2010 at 10:01

    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.

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