In message , TOliver
writes
"Thomas Schoene" wrote ...
Unfortunately, pictures of real Sea Harriers with live missile loads seem
to be rare as hen teeth.

Rumor has it that aside from the blue, inert exercise "concrete" versions,
the budget only stretched to a couple of dozen, held in a secret bunker
somewhere in Yorkshire, plugged in like recharging cell phones, awaiting the
summons to Armageddon...

Not *quite* that bad; the UK AMRAAM buy was sufficient to arm the Tonka
F.3s as well as give the deployed carrier her Blue Book loadout, with
enough left over (assuming we don't actually shoot any in anger) to tide
the Typhoons over until Meteor deliveries start.

Which isn't to say there are surplus AIM-120s piled up in corners, just
that for once Tom's overstating it

I suspect an actual weapons load of two per a/c is about all the acquisition
budget will stretch to,

The problem was rather one of the inevitable weight growth of ageing
aircraft, coupled to the high cost of a bigger engine, and expected
operations in weather charitably described as "too bloody hot for
comfort": in air temperatures of over forty degrees modern, a SHar with
four AMRAAMs couldn't hover at more than 'flameout in seconds' fuel
states. (Hence, in part, its premature retirement)


--
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.
Julius Caesar I:2

Paul J. Adam MainBoxatjrwlynch[dot]demon{dot}co(.)uk