A Sea Harrier FA2 of 801 NAS in flight at the Royal International Air Tattoo.
Role
V/STOL strike fighter
Type of aircraft
National origin
United Kingdom
Manufacturer
Hawker Siddeley British Aerospace
Introduction
20 August 1978 (FRS1) 10 December 1983 (FRS51) 2 April 1993 (FA2)
Retired
March 2006 (Royal Navy); 6 March 2016 (Indian Navy)[1]
Status
Retired
Primary users
Royal Navy (historical) Indian Navy (historical)
Number built
98
Developed from
Hawker Siddeley 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".[2] 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.[3][4] 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 The aircraft was withdrawn from service early by the Royal Navy in 2006, but remained in service with the Indian Navy for a further decade until its retirement in 2016.
^"India Retires Sea Harriers". 8 August 2017.
^Ward, p. 50.
^Mison, Graham. "Sea Harrier Down Under". Harrier.org.uk. Archived from the original on 12 December 2010. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
^"London almost sold arms to BA before war: Astonishing weapons sales plan for Argentina". Buenos Aires Herald. 29 June 2005. Archived from the original on 5 June 2013. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
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