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Hawker Siddeley Harrier
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Siddeley_Harrier
The Hawker Siddeley Harrier, developed in the 1960s, was the first of the Harrier Jump Jet series of aircraft. It was the first operational close-support and reconnaissance fighter aircraft with vertical/short takeoff and landing (V/STOL) capabilities and the only truly successful V/STOL design of the many that arose in that era. The Harrier was developed directly from the Hawker Siddeley Kestrel prototype aircraft, following the cancellation of a more advanced supersonic aircraft, the Hawker Siddeley P.1154. The British Royal Air Force (RAF) ordered the Harrier GR.1 and GR.3 variants in the late 1960s. It was exported to the United States as the AV-8A, for use by the US Marine Corps (USMC), in the 1970s. In the 1970s the British Aerospace Sea Harrier was developed from the Harrier for use by the Royal Navy (RN) on Invincible-class aircraft carriers. The Sea Harrier and the Harrier fought in the 1982 Falklands War, in which the aircraft proved to be crucial and versatile. The RN Sea Harriers provided fixed-wing air defence while the RAF Harriers focused on ground-attack missions in support of the advancing British land force. The Harrier was also extensively redesigned as the AV-8B Harrier II and British Aerospace Harrier II by the team of McDonnell Douglas and British Aerospace. The innovative Harrier family and its Rolls-Royce Pegasus engines with thrust vectoring nozzles have generated long-term interest in V/STOL aircraft. Similar V/STOL operational aircraft include the contemporary Soviet Yakovlev Yak-38. The F-35B V/STOL variant of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is under development. Role V/STOL ground-attack aircraft National origin United Kingdom Manufacturer Hawker Siddeley First flight Harrier: 28 December 1967 Introduction 1 April 1969 Status Retired (2006) Primary users Royal Air Force (historical) United States Marine Corps (historical) Spanish Navy (historical) Royal Thai Navy (historical) Produced 1967–1970s Number built 278 Developed from Hawker Siddeley P.1127/Kestrel Developed into British Aerospace Sea Harrier McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II British Aerospace Harrier II The Harrier was typically used as a ground attack aircraft, though its manoeuvrability also allows it to effectively engage other aircraft at short ranges. The Harrier is powered by a single Pegasus turbofan engine mounted in the fuselage. The engine is fitted with two air intakes and four vectoring nozzles for directing the thrust generated: two for the bypass flow and two for the jet exhaust. Several small reaction nozzles are also fitted, in the nose, tail and wingtips, for the purpose of balancing during vertical flight. It has two landing gear units on the fuselage and two outrigger landing gear units, one near each wing tip. The Harrier is equipped with four wing and three fuselage pylons for carrying a variety of weapons and external fuel tanks The Harrier, while serving for many decades in various forms, has been criticised on multiple issues; in particular a high accident rate, though Nordeen notes that several conventional single-engine strike aircraft like the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk and LTV A-7 Corsair II had worse accident rates. The Los Angeles Times reported in 2003 that the Harrier "...has amassed the highest major accident rate of any military plane now in service. Forty-five Marines have died in 148 noncombat accidents". Colonel Lee Buland of the USMC declared the maintenance of a Harrier to be a "challenge"; the need to remove the wings before performing most work upon the engine, including engine replacements, meant the Harrier required considerable man-hours in maintenance, more than most aircraft. Buland noted however that the maintenance difficulties were unavoidable in order to create a V/STOL aircraft Specifications (Harrier GR.3) General characteristics Crew: One Length: 46 ft 10 in (14.27 m) Wingspan: 25 ft 3 in (7.70 m) Height: 11 ft 11 in (3.63 m) Wing area: 201.1 ft² (18.68 m²) Empty weight: 13,535 lb (6,140 kg) Max. takeoff weight: 25,200 lb (11,430 kg) Powerplant: 1 × Rolls-Royce Pegasus 103 turbofan with four swivelling nozzles, 21,500 lbf (95.6 kN) Four vertical flight puffer jets use engine bleed air, mounted in the nose, wingtips, and tail. Performance Maximum speed: 730 mph (635 knots, 1,176 km/h) at sea level Combat radius: 230 mi (200 nmi, 370 km) lo-lo-lo with 4,400 lb (2,000 kg) payload Ferry range: 2,129 mi (1,850 nmi, 3,425 km) Endurance: 1 hr 30 min (combat air patrol – 115 mi (185 km) from base) Service ceiling: 51,200 ft (15,600 m) Time to climb to 40,000 ft (12,200 m): 2 min 23 s Armament Guns: 2× 30 mm (1.18 in) ADEN cannon pods under the fuselage Hardpoints: 4× under-wing & 1× under-fuselage pylon stations with a capacity of 5,000 lb (2,268 kg) and provisions to carry combinations of: Rockets: 4× Matra rocket pods with 18× SNEB 68 mm rockets each Missiles: 2× AIM-9 Sidewinders Air-to-air missiles Bombs: A variety of unguided iron bombs, BL755 cluster bombs or laser-guided bombs Others: 1× Reconnaissance pod 2× drop tanks for extended range/loitering time * |
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