BAE Sea Harrier

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Sea Harrier FA2

The BAE Systems Sea Harrier is a naval VTOL/STOVL jet fighter, reconnaissance and attack aircraft, a development of the Hawker Siddeley Harrier. It first entered service with the Royal Navy in April 1980. The Sea Harrier was withdrawn from Royal Navy service in March 2006.

The latest version is the BAE Systems Harrier FA2. It is informally known as the "Shar".

Contents

1 Development history
2 FRS.Mk 1
3 T.4N
4 FRS.Mk 51
5 T.60
6 FA2
7 Retirement
8 Operators
9 Curiosities
10 Specifications (Sea Harrier FA2)
11 Related content

Development history

In 1966 the planned CVA-01 class aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy were cancelled, apparently ending the Royal Navy's involvement in fixed-wing carrier aviation. However, beginning in the early 1970s, the first of a new class of "through deck cruisers" was planned, carefully named to avoid the term "aircraft carrier" to increase the chances of funding. These ships would eventually become the Invincible class aircraft carriers. With little modification, a 'ski-jump' was added to the end of the 170 m deck, the carriers could operate a small number of STOVL jets.

FRS.Mk 1

The RAF's Hawker-Siddeley Harrier GR1s had entered service in April 1969. In 1975 the Royal Navy ordered 34 Sea Harrier FRS.1s, the first of which entered service in 1978. In total 57 FRS.1s were delivered between 1978 and 1988. The FRS.1 was largely based on the Harrier GR.3, but was modified to have a "bubble" canopy (to give better visiblity for the air defence role) and an extended forward fuselage to accommodate the Ferranti (now BAE Systems) Blue Fox radar. Furthermore it was manufactured in alloys better suited for a maritime environment.

The Sea Harriers and HMS Invincible, commissioned on July 11 1980, were operational during the Falklands War of 1982. Harriers also operated from the flagship of the taskforce, HMS Hermes. The Sea Harriers were to operate in their primary air defence role, with the RAF Harrier GR.3 expected to act as attrition replacements for the Sea Harriers. However the Sea Harriers claimed 21 kills with no losses in air combat (two were lost to ground fire and four in accidents) and the RAF fleet was free to operate in their primary ground attack role. The dominance of the Sea Harrier over the theoretically equal or superior Argentinian Mirage III and Mirage V Daggers surprised many. It should be noted that the disparity in figures, with the Argentinian fighters failing to shoot down a single Sea Harrier, can arguably be attributed to a number of factors. The Argentinian planes were operating at the extent of their range with little fuel for dogfights while the Sea Harrier possessed extreme manouverability and employed the latest AIM-9L Sidewinder missiles and the almost unparalleled (at the time) Blue Fox radar. Additionally, the British pilots had unarguably superior combat air training and were frequently provided with fighter control by warships in San Carlos Water.

The Sea Harriers had limited fuel reserves themselves due the tactical decision to station the British carriers out of Exocet missile range and the dispersal of the fleet. Although an Argentine aircraft could only allow 5 minutes over the islands to search and attack an objective and without any capable air-to-air missile, a Sea Harrier could stay near to 30 minutes waiting in the Argentine approach corridors. As the only aerial defence, the Sea Harriers were both greatly outnumbered by the available Argentinian aircraft and were decoyed away by the activities of the Escuadrón Fénix of civilian jet aircraft used by the Argentine Air Force. They had to operate without a fleet early warning systems such as AWACS that would have been available to a full NATO fleet in which the Royal Navy had expected to operate. As a result they couldn't establish complete air superiority and prevent Argentine attacks during day or night nor stop the daily flights of C-130 Hercules transports to the islands. Yet the conflict was a resounding vindication of the Sea Harrier's abilities: aside from their 100% record in air to air combat, no other fixed-wing carrier fighter in history could have taken off from a carrier in the extreme conditions in the South Atlantic in which the Sea Harriers operated.

T.4N

The Royal Navy purchased four Harrier T.4N two-seater aircraft for land-based training.

FRS.Mk 51

Single-seat fighter, reconnaissance and attack aircraft for the Indian Navy. The first of twenty-four Sea Harrier FRS.51s were delivered to the Indian navy in 1983.

T.60

A small number of Sea Harrier T.60 two-seaters were also purchased, by the Indian Navy for land-based training.

FA2

Lessons learned from the aircraft's performance in the Falklands lead to the requirement for an upgrade of the fleet, incorporating;

Increased air-to-air weapons load
Look-down radar
Increased range
Improved cockpit displays

Approval for an upgrade to FRS.2 standard was given in 1984. First flight of the prototype took place on September 1988 and a contract was signed for 29 upgraded aircraft in December that year, with the upgraded aircraft to be known as the FA2. In 1990 the Navy ordered 18 new-build FA2s, at a unit cost of around £12 million apiece, and a further 5 upgrades were ordered in 1994. The FA2 features the Blue Vixen radar which is described as one of the most advanced pulse doppler radars in the world. The Blue Vixen formed the basis for the Typhoon's CAPTOR radar. The FA2 carries the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile and was the first UK aircraft to be provided with this capability. The first aircraft was delivered on April 2 1993 and the first operational deployment was in April 1994 as part of the UN force in Bosnia.

The final new-build Sea Harrier FA2 was delivered on January 18 1999.

Retirement

A Sea Harrier FA2 on display at the National Maritime Museum in May 2006

The Sea Harrier was withdrawn from service in 2006 and the last remaining aircraft from 801 Squadron were decommissioned on March 29 2006.[link] The plans were announced in 2002 by the Ministry of Defence. The aircraft's replacement, the Lockheed/Northrop/BAE F-35, is not due until 2012 at the earliest however the MoD argues that significant expenditure would be required to upgrade the fleet for only six years service.

Although the youngest Sea Harrier only joined the Navy in 1999, the FA2 is almost all metal, unlike the largely composite RAF Harriers. This increased weight and relative lack of thrust from the engine restrict operational use of the Sea Harrier, for example FA2s often have to drop unexpended weapons in the sea before landing, particularly in hot climates. The natural option to install higher rated Pegasus engines would not be as straightforward as the Harrier GR7 upgrade and would likely be an expensive and slow process. Furthermore, the Sea Harriers were subject to a generally more hostile environment than land-based Harriers, with corrosive salt spray a particular problem. As of March 2006, all Sea Harriers have been retired from service.

Opponents have argued that the loss of the Sea Harrier would leave the Royal Navy without effective air-defence capability for too long. The MoD argues that the Type 45 destroyer, due to enter service by the end of the decade will provide sufficient anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) capability. The Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm will continue to share the other component of Joint Force Harrier, the Harrier GR7 and the upgraded Harrier GR9 with the RAF, with the two front-line squadrons, 800 NAS and 801 NAS, expected to reform using the GR9 by 2007. The projected purchase of around 150 F-35s will be split between the two services and they will operate from the Royal Navy's Future Carrier (CVF.)

The Indian Navy is in the process of upgrading up to 15 Sea Harriers with Israel by installing the Elta EL/M-2032 radar & the Rafael 'Derby' medium range air to air missile. This will enable the Sea Harrier to remain in Indian service till beyond 2012 & also see limited service off the new carriers the IN will acquire by that time frame.

The Indian Navy is currently interested in acquiring up to eight of the Royal Navys retired Sea Harrier FA2s in order to maintain their operational Sea Harrier fleet which consists of 16 Pegasus 104-powered Sea Harrier FRS51s, The Indian Navy have lost six in accidents in the last 24 years. If the deal goes through it will have to involve ongoing support from BAe Systems and Rolls Royce. The sale will not involve the Sea Harrier FA2's Blue Vixen radar, the RWR and the AMRRAM capability. Also certain US sourced software will be deleted prior to shipment.

One Sea Harrier has been acquired by a US Warbird operator and has been shipped to the US where it will join the US Air Show Circuit, a number of airframes are beginning to appear in Museums on static displays and one has made its way in to the beer garden of the Snipe Public House in Dukenfield near Manchester

Operators

India, United Kingdom

Curiosities

The Sea Harriers inspired the poem "Los Sea Harriers en el firmamento de los eclipses" (1993) by the Chilean poet Diego Maquieira.