British Aerospace Sea Harrier
The British Aerospace Sea Harrier is a naval short take-off and vertical landing/vertical take-off and landing jet fighter, reconnaissance and attack aircraft. It is the second member of the Harrier family developed. It first entered service with the Royal Navy in April 1980 as the Sea Harrier FRS1 and became informally known as the "Shar". Unusual in an era in which most naval and land-based air superiority fighters were large and supersonic, the principal role of the subsonic Sea Harrier was to provide air defence for Royal Navy task groups centred around the aircraft carriers.
The Sea Harrier served in the Falklands War and the Balkans conflicts; on all occasions it mainly operated from aircraft carriers positioned within the conflict zone. Its usage in the Falklands War was its most high profile and important success, when it was the only fixed-wing fighter available to protect the British Task Force. The Sea Harriers shot down 20 enemy aircraft during the conflict; 2 Sea Harriers were lost to enemy ground fire. They were also used to launch ground attacks in the same manner as the Harriers operated by the Royal Air Force.
The Sea Harrier was marketed for sales abroad, but India was the only other operator after attempts to sell the aircraft to Argentina and Australia were unsuccessful. A second, updated version for the Royal Navy was made in 1993 as the Sea Harrier FA2, improving its air-to-air abilities and weapons compatibilities, along with a more powerful engine; this version was manufactured until 1998. The aircraft was withdrawn from service early by the Royal Navy in 2006, but remained in service with the Indian Navy for a further decade until its retirement in 2016.
Development
In the post-World War II era, the Royal Navy began contracting in size. By 1960, the last battleship,, was retired from the Navy, having been in service for less than fifteen years. In 1966 the planned CVA-01 class of large aircraft carriers was cancelled. During this time, requirements within the Royal Navy began to form for a vertical and/or short take-off and landing carrier-based interceptor to replace the de Havilland Sea Vixen. The first V/STOL tests on a ship began with a Hawker Siddeley P.1127 landing on in 1963.A second concept for the future of naval aviation emerged in the early 1970s when the first of a new class of "through deck cruisers" was planned. These were very carefully and politically designated as cruisers, deliberately avoiding the term "aircraft carrier" to increase the chances of funding in a political climate hostile to expensive capital ships. The resulting carriers were considerably smaller than the CVA-01 design, but came to be widely recognised as aircraft carriers. Almost immediately upon their construction, a ski-jump was added to the end of the 170-metre deck, enabling the carriers to effectively operate a small number of V/STOL jets.
The naval staff were able to build an effective political argument for acquiring V/STOL aircraft on the grounds that anti-submarine groups operating in the NATO Atlantic area, the intended main role of the through-deck cruisers, would be vulnerable to attack by Soviet anti-ship missiles. These could be launched at a considerable distance by a submarine or surface ship but needed to be guided in by a maritime patrol aircraft; fast jets carried onboard would be able to shoot these down. No mention was made of the other capabilities that these aircraft would have.
The Royal Air Force's Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR1s had entered service in April 1969. A navalized variant of the Harrier was developed by Hawker Siddeley to serve on the upcoming ships; this became the Sea Harrier. In 1975, the Royal Navy ordered 24 Sea Harrier FRS.1 aircraft, the first of which entered service in 1978. During this time, Hawker Siddeley became part of British Aerospace through nationalisation in 1977. By the time the prototype Sea Harrier was flown at Dunsfold on 20 August 1978, the order had been increased to 34. The Sea Harrier was declared operational in 1981 on board the first Invincible-class ship, and further aircraft joined the ageing aircraft carrier later that year.
In 1984, approval was given to upgrade of the fleet to FRS.2 standard following the lessons learned during the aircraft's deployment in the 1982 Falklands War. The first flight of the prototype took place in September 1988 and a contract was signed for 29 upgraded aircraft in December that year. In 1990, the Navy ordered 18 new-build FA2s at a unit cost of around £12 million, four further upgraded aircraft were ordered in 1994. The first aircraft was delivered on 2 April 1993.
Design
The Sea Harrier is a subsonic aircraft designed for strike, reconnaissance and fighter roles. It features a single Rolls-Royce Pegasus turbofan engine with two intakes and four vectorable nozzles. It has two landing gear on the fuselage and two outrigger landing gears on the wings. The Sea Harrier is equipped with four wing and three fuselage pylons for carrying weapons and external fuel tanks. The use of the ski jump allowed the aircraft to take off from a short flight deck with a heavier payload than would otherwise be possible, although it can also take off like a conventional loaded fighter without thrust vectoring from a normal airport runway.The Sea Harrier was largely based on the Harrier GR3, but was modified to have a raised cockpit with a "bubble" canopy for greater visibility and an extended forward fuselage to accommodate the Ferranti Blue Fox radar. Parts were changed to use corrosion resistant alloys, or coatings were added, to protect against the marine environment. After the Falklands War, the Sea Harrier was fitted with the Sea Eagle anti-ship missile.
The Blue Fox radar was seen by some critics as having comparatively low performance for what was available at the time of procurement. The Sea Harrier FA2 was fitted with the Blue Vixen radar, which was described as one of the most advanced pulse doppler radar systems in the world. The Blue Vixen formed the basis of the Eurofighter Typhoon's CAPTOR radar. The Sea Harrier FA2 carried the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile, the first UK aircraft with this capability. An upgraded model of the Pegasus engine, the Pegasus Mk 106, was used in the Sea Harrier FA2. In response to the threat of radar-based anti-aircraft weapons electronic countermeasures were added. Other improvements included an increased air-to-air weapons load, look-down radar, increased range, and improved cockpit displays.
The Sea Harrier's cockpit includes a conventional centre stick arrangement and left-hand throttle. In addition to normal flight controls, the Harrier has a lever for controlling the direction of the four vectorable nozzles. The nozzles point rearward with the lever in the forward position for horizontal flight. With the lever back, the nozzles point downward for vertical takeoff or landing. The utility of the vertical landing capability of the Sea Harrier was demonstrated in an incident on 6 June 1983, when Sub Lieutenant Ian Watson lost contact with the aircraft carrier and had to land Sea Harrier ZA176 on the foredeck of the Spanish cargo ship Alraigo.
In 1998, the UK Defence Evaluation and Research Agency test-fitted an FA2 with AVPRO UK Ltd's Exint pods, small underwing compartments intended to be used for deployment of special forces.
In 2005, a Sea Harrier was modified with an 'Autoland' system to allow the fighter to perform a safe vertical landing without any pilot interaction. Despite the pitching of a ship posing a natural problem, the system was designed to be aware of such data, and successfully performed a landing at sea in May 2005.
Operational history
Royal Navy
Entry into service
The first three Sea Harriers were a development batch and were used for clearance trials. The first production aircraft was delivered to RNAS Yeovilton in 1979 to form an Intensive Flying Trials Unit, 700A Naval Air Squadron. In March 1980, the Intensive Flying Trials Unit became 899 Naval Air Squadron and would act as the landborne headquarters unit for the type. The first operational squadron, 800 Naval Air Squadron, was also formed in March 1980, initially to operate from HMS Invincible before it transferred to HMS Hermes. In January 1981, a second operational squadron 801 Naval Air Squadron was formed to operate from HMS Invincible.Falklands War
Sea Harriers took part in the Falklands War of 1982, flying from HMS Invincible and HMS Hermes. The Sea Harriers performed the primary air defence role with a secondary role of ground attack; the RAF Harrier GR3 provided the main ground attack force. A total of 28 Sea Harriers and 14 Harrier GR3s were deployed in the theatre. The Sea Harrier squadrons shot down 20 Argentine aircraft in air-to-air combat with no air-to-air losses, although two Sea Harriers were lost to ground fire and four to accidents. Out of the total Argentine air losses, 28% were shot down by Harriers. One Sea Harrier alone, flown by RAF Flight Lieutenant David Morgan, shot down two Skyhawks in a single encounter, another being Lieutenant Stephen Thomas shooting down 2 Argentine Air Force Mirage V "Daggers" with Sidewinder missiles on one mission on May 21, 1982.British aircraft received fighter control from warships in San Carlos Water, although its effectiveness was limited by their being stationed close to the islands, which severely limited the effectiveness of their radar. The differences in tactics and training between 800 Squadron and 801 Squadron have been a point of criticism, suggesting that the losses of several ships were preventable had Sea Harriers from Hermes been used more effectively.
Both sides' aircraft were operating in adverse conditions. Argentine aircraft were forced to operate from the mainland because airfields on the Falklands were only suited for propeller-driven aircraft. The bombing of Port Stanley airport by a British Vulcan bomber was also a consideration in the Argentinians' decision to operate them from afar. As most Argentine aircraft lacked in-flight refuelling capability, they were forced to operate at the limit of their range. The Sea Harriers also had limited fuel reserves due to the tactical decision to station the British carriers out of Exocet missile range and the dispersal of the fleet. The result was that an Argentine aircraft only had five minutes over the islands to search for and attack an objective, while a Sea Harrier could stay near to 30 minutes waiting in the Argentine approach corridors and provide Combat Air Patrol coverage for up to an hour.
The Sea Harriers were outnumbered by the available Argentinian aircraft, and were on occasion deterred by the activities of the Escuadrón Fénix or civilian jet aircraft used by the Argentine Air Force. They had to operate without a fleet airborne early warning and control system that would have been available to a full NATO fleet in which the Royal Navy had expected to operate, which was a significant weakness in the operational environment. It is now known that British units based in Chile did provide early radar warning to the Task Force. Nonetheless, the lack of AEW&C cover resulted in air superiority as opposed to air supremacy; the Sea Harriers could not prevent Argentine attacks during day or night nor could they completely stop the daily C-130 Hercules transports' night flights to the islands.
Two main factors contributed to the failure of Argentinian fighter pilots to shoot down a Sea Harrier. Firstly, although the Mirage III and Dagger jets were faster, the Sea Harrier was considerably more manoeuvrable. Secondly, the Harrier employed the latest AIM-9L Sidewinder missiles and the Blue Fox radar. Two other hypotheses about the Argentines' lack of success have been disproven. Firstly, contrary to contemporary reports, "viffing" was not used by Harrier pilots in dogfights; the manoeuvre was regarded within the FAA as a tactic to be used only in extreme emergency, that would likely only be effective against opponents with little knowledge of the Harrier's capabilities. Secondly, contrary to contemporary reports, Argentinian pilots seldom released air-to-air missiles and other weapons outside of their effective range and other operating parameters. This belief may have resulted from British observers witnessing Mirages/Daggers dropping external fuel tanks, to improve their manoeuvrability.
During the conflict, the principal threats to Harrier aircraft were assessed as surface-to-air missiles, anti-aircraft artillery, and small arms fire, with four Harrier GR.3s and six Sea Harriers lost.
| Aircraft type & serial | Pilot | Date | Location | Cause / Weapon |
| Sea Harrier XZ450 | Lt Nick Taylor | 4 May 1982 | Goose Green area | Shot down by 35mm Oerlikon AA fire |
| Sea Harrier XZ452 | Lt Cdr John Eyton-Jones | 6 May 1982 | South East of Falklands | Night collision with XZ453 |
| Sea Harrier XZ453 | Lt Alan Curtis | 6 May 1982 | South East of Falklands | Night collision with XZ452 |
| Harrier GR.3 XZ972 | Flt‑Lt Jeff Glover | 21 May 1982 | Port Howard, West Falkland | Shot down by Blowpipe SAM |
| Sea Harrier ZA192 | 23 May 1982 | North East of Falklands | Crashed on take-off | |
| Harrier GR.3 XZ988 | Sqn Ldr Bob Iveson | 27 May 1982 | Near Goose Green | Hit by 35mm Oerlikon cannon AA fire or 20mm Rheinmetall |
| Sea Harrier ZA174 | Lt Cdr Mike Broadwater | 29 May 1982 | HMS flight deck | Slid off deck in bad weather |
| Harrier GR.3 XZ963 | Sqn Ldr Jerry Pook | 30 May 1982 | West of Port Stanley | Damaged by small-arms fire, crashed |
| Sea Harrier XZ456 | Flt‑Lt Ian Mortimer | 1 June 1982 | South of Stanley airfield | Shot down by Roland SAM |
| Harrier GR.3 XZ989 | Wg Cdr Peter Squire | 8 June 1982 | Port San Carlos area | Mechanical failure on landing |