On Dec. 15, 2010, sixteen Harriers took off from RAF Cottesmore for a farewell formation flight marking the top to 41 years of British Harrier operations.
Initially scheduled to stay in service till 2018 or past, ideally overlapping with the introduction of the F-35B Lightning II, funds cuts instituted by the 2010 Strategic Defence and Safety Overview (SDSR) noticed the joint Royal Air Drive/Fleet Air Arm Joint Strike Wing stand down with just a few months of discover. Three squadrons – 1(F) Squadron RAF, 4(F) Squadron RAF, and 800 Naval Air Squadron have been the remaining operational customers of the Harrier airframe in British service, all finally disbanding on Jan. 28, 2011.
After a number of climate delays, the ultimate operational flight was organized for Dec. 15, 2010. It featured a formation of 13 Harrier GR9s and three Harrier T12 twin-stick trainers led by a specifically painted jet in a retro camouflage scheme paying homage to ones worn by earlier generations of Harrier. Different plane within the formation featured commemorative tail art work. The plane would, in formation, begin a tour of Royal Air Drive bases throughout central and jap England.
Although solely 16 plane took half within the last flypasts, a big quantity extra have been nonetheless on the bottom at Cottesmore each in serviceable and unserviceable states. The final Harrier GR9s returned from their last fight deployment on Operation Herrick in Afghanistan in July 2009, having been changed in theater by the Twister GR4 after a 5 12 months stint involving 8,500 sorties and 22,000 flying hours.
Service functionality was maintained till the final days, and the final Harriers departed HMS Ark Royal’s ski-jump on Nov. 24. The SDSR not solely retired the Harrier power, but additionally mandated the early withdrawal of HMS Ark Royal – leaving sister ship HMS Illustrious alone to serve till 2014 as a helicopter provider. This resolution was lamented by some solely months after the Harriers left service because the British army ready for Operation Ellamy in Libya.
Although many pointed to the U.S. Marine Corps’ use of their very own Harriers over Libya for instance of how the UK may have utilised carrier-based Harriers for its contribution, it ought to nonetheless be famous that the Harrier GR9 configuration featured no radar, which made potential air to air engagements a tougher prospect. As well as, the Twister GR4s which supplied the majority of Operation Ellamy’s airpower have been rapidly ahead deployed to allied airbases in Italy, largely negating the benefit of with the ability to ahead deploy the provider.
The Twister GR4 was the plane with which the Harrier needed to contend within the decision-making course of that led to the SDSR in 2010. Whether or not rightly or wrongly, it had been determined that the UK may financially solely help two simultaneous traces of fight jet plane. The Hurricane power, nonetheless in its infancy, was an apparent keeper, resulting in a Harrier vs Twister showdown. Though the Harrier boasted the provider functionality, in addition to extra versatile deployment choices on land, the plane’s lesser capabilities in vary and weapon/sensor payloads in comparison with the swing-wing strike plane didn’t assist its possibilities. The sooner talked about deployment of Twister GR4s to Afghanistan in 2009 was one other issue – the cash and sources having already been spent sending the jets there and returning the well-used Harriers and all help gear.
In fact, the carrier-based Harrier nonetheless had its use circumstances, although the sooner withdrawal of the Fleet Air Arm’s Sea Harrier FA2 in 2006 – an air to air fight specialist which might function in tandem with the ground-attack GR sequence plane – closely hit the Harrier power’s efficiency. The final frontline sorties flown by Harriers from the UK’s Invincible class plane carriers have been reconnaissance patrols over Sierra Leone in 2000. Subsequent operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have been all flown from land bases, within the former case with HMS Ark Royal as an alternative being utilized by helicopters.
On the time of the SDSR in 2010, it was anticipated that the Queen Elizabeth class plane carriers would enter service from 2014. The SDSR determined to transform the 2 carriers to catapult assisted take-off/arrested restoration (CATOBAR) configuration, and swap the UK’s order from the F-35B to the F-35C Lightning II. This was reversed once more 2011. As we now know in the present day, it will definitely took till 2025 for the brand new provider strike functionality to succeed in the milestones wanted for the declaration of full working functionality (FOC) though the F-35B nonetheless lacks standoff strike weapons in UK service.
What occurred to the Harriers?
As is commonly repeated on-line, in direction of the top of 2011 the British authorities determined to dump the vast majority of its remaining Harrier GR9s and T12s to the U.S. Marine Corps for a complete of $180 million. The plane have been subsequently shipped to the ‘boneyard’ at Davis-Monthan Air Drive Base, Arizona, for use as spare components donors for the U.S. fleet of AV-8B Harrier IIs. They remained secure there till 2023 when the method of scrapping what was left of the airframes started forward of the AV-8B’s drawdown.
Eight Harrier GR7s and GR9s have been stored for preservation and show at numerous places throughout the UK. The Royal Navy moreover stored various its Sea Harriers in operating situation till latest years to help with life like flight deck coaching.
The plane that took half within the last flypast, and their subsequent fates, are listed beneath:
Harrier GR9A ZG506 – specifically marked retro scheme jet, delivered to Davis-Monthan AFB
Harrier GR9 ZG857 – delivered to Davis-Monthan AFB
Harrier GR9 ZD397 – delivered to Davis-Monthan AFB
Harrier GR9A ZD467 – delivered to Davis-Monthan AFB
Harrier GR9 ZG477 – particular fin, preserved at Royal Air Drive Museum London, Hendon
Harrier GR9A ZD433 – preserved on the Fleet Air Arm Museum, RNAS Yeovilton
Harrier GR9A ZG472 – delivered to Davis-Monthan AFB
Harrier GR9A ZG479 – delivered to Davis-Monthan AFB
Harrier GR9A ZD351 – particular fin, delivered to Davis-Monthan AFB
Harrier GR9A ZD347 – delivered to Davis-Monthan AFB
Harrier GR9 ZG862 – delivered to Davis-Monthan AFB
Harrier GR9 ZG502 – delivered to Davis-Monthan AFB
Harrier GR9 ZG858 – particular fin, delivered to Davis-Monthan AFB
Harrier T12A ZH665 – delivered to Davis-Monthan AFB
Harrier T12 ZH659 – delivered to Davis-Monthan AFB
Harrier T12 ZH664 – delivered to Davis-Monthan AFB
The ‘A’ variants of the GR9 and T12, in addition to the legacy GR7 and T10 plane, featured the Mk 107 Rolls-Royce Pegasus engine, reasonably than the common Mk 105. The Mk 107 was extra highly effective, which proved particularly helpful within the hotter climates and better altitudes of mountainous Afghanistan.
15 Years On
The early retirement of the Harrier will doubtless long-remain one of the vital hotly contested subjects referring to the UK’s defence coverage of the early twenty first century. In lots of conversations it overshadows what have been, arguably, extra devastating cuts, just like the withdrawal with out alternative of the Nimrod MR2 maritime patrol plane and the cancellation of its troubled Nimrod MRA4 successor. The indicators intelligence (SIGINT) Nimrod R1s have been changed inside a number of years by RC-135 Rivet Joints – in a method demonstrating the significance of SIGINT assortment to the UK’s defence – however regardless of being an island nation with a notable prowess in anti-submarine warfare (ASW) it was not till 2019 when the RAF acquired its first P-8A Poseidon MRA1.
Among the many British public, the Harrier maintains its symbolic standing alongside Concorde, the Supermarine Spitfire, and the Avro Vulcan. With the latter, the Harrier’s key function within the Falklands Warfare of 1982 completely granted the plane a legendary standing. No flying examples of a Harrier stay within the UK, although efforts have lengthy been deliberate to revive a Sea Harrier FA2 to flight for show functions.
Worldwide, the variety of Harriers remaining in service continues to dwindle. The U.S. Marine Corps, although nonetheless flying the AV-8B in frontline service, intends to retire its final jets over the following two years. Italian AV-8Bs, that are purported to soldier on till 2030, could also be compelled into an early retirement as soon as the USMC attracts its Harrier operations to a detailed. Not like the U.S. and Italy, who’ve each procured the F-35B Lightning II as a alternative, Spain has nonetheless but to determine on changing its Harriers, identified domestically as Matadors – additionally theoretically on account of retire in 2030. Talks on the acquisition of F-35s stalled amid diplomatic disputes between Spain and the incumbent U.S. administration.
Although we nonetheless don’t know for certain when the Harrier’s final day in operational service shall be, it’s sure to be quickly approaching.
