Sea Harrier FA2 Fighter Combat

Sea Harrier FA2 is a modified and updated version of the Royal Navy’s Sea Harrier FRS1 fighter, reconnaissance and strike aircraft, equipped with the Blue Vixen multi-mode, pulse doppler radar and AMRAAM. This combination of long range detection and simultaneous engagement of multiple targets at Beyond Visual Range is a potent enhancement to maritime all-weather defences.

Sea Harrier FA2

Single-engine, ”jump-jet” fighter-bomber designed to fly from combat areas and aircraft carriers and to support ground forces. It was made by Hawker Siddeley Aviation and first flew on Aug. 31, 1966, after a long period of development. (Hawker Siddeley became part of British Aerospace in 1977, and the latter firm, in partnership with McDonnell Douglas in the United States, continued to manufacture the Harrier.) The several versions of the Harrier could take off straight up or with a short roll (Vertical and Short Take-off and Landing, or V/STOL), and thus the Harrier did not need conventional runways. Powered by a vectored thrust turbofan engine, the plane diverted its engine thrust downward for vertical takeoff using rotatable engine exhaust ports.

It could carry a combination of armaments, including air-to-air missiles, air-to-surface antiship missiles, rockets, and bombs. Ground-attack versions of the Harrier could carry two 30-millimetre cannons as well
as rockets and bombs. The Sea Harrier saw combat in the British campaign during the Falkland Islands War of 1982. A larger and heavier version built for the U.S. Marines was used for both air defense and support of ground forces.