BAe Sea Harrier

History of the BAe Sea Harrier

When the land-based Hawke Siddeley Harrier was introduced to the RAF in 1969, its arrival revolutionized the British approach to the military. The system enables vertical takeoff and landing by combining the hovering capabilities of a helicopter with that of a subsonic jet.

The Sea Harrier legacy was born on February 8, 1967, after the first successful landing of the P. 1127 XP831 Trial Harrier on the deck of the HMS Ark Royal. At its core, the Sea Harrier retains all the inherent advantages of its RAF sister, while also becoming the Royal Navy's more advanced anti-aircraft fighter (with ground attack capability as a secondary role).

Harrier family tree breakdown

The Harrier range consists of four main versions including the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, British Aerospace (BAe) Sea Harrier, Boeing/BAe AV-8B Harrier II and BAe Systems/Boeing Harrier II Each model differs from the others in some way Way. The original production model and the start of the Harrier series was the Hawker Siddeley Harrier. The Sea Harrier (as the name suggests) became a dedicated naval version of the Base Harrier, used primarily for air defense and secondarily for ground attack.

The Sea Harrier also uses the powerful Blue Fox radar, a direct development of the ground-based RAF Harrier GR. 3. The Boeing/BAe AV-8B Harrier II became a "second generation" Harrier, a heavily modified version of the original Harrier used by the USMC, while the BAe Harrier II was a British modified strike version of the USMC Harrier II. /p]

Hawker Aircraft Limited was acquired by the Hawker Siddeley Group in the late 1950s and renamed British Aerospace (BAe) in 1977.

This article describes the original first-generation BAe Systems Sea Harrier, which came after the Hawker Siddeley Harrier and before the Harrier II class. Other models are discussed elsewhere on this site under their respective manufacturers.

Development

The British Admiralty took a slight interest in the sea-based Harrier, and in 1962 established a requirement for a V/STOL capable carrier-based interceptor to replace its aging de Havilland Sea Vixen. On February 8, 1963, a USS Hawke Sidley, named XP831, landed on the deck of the Ark Royal with carrier assistance.

The larger supersonic Harrier fighter was developed by the Royal Navy under the project name P. 1154 (RN).

However, the rise of Labour on the British political scene in 1964 led to the deletion of P.1154(RN). Rather than funding the development of an expensive new supersonic fighter jet, the decision was made to buy the Rolls-Royce-powered McDonnell Douglas F-4K Phantom II and continue regular carrier operations in 1978. By 1966, the development of Britain's future CVA-01 aircraft carrier was also cancelled, raising many question marks about the future direction of the Royal Navy. With no new conventional aircraft carriers in sight, the Royal Navy needs a viable replacement for the outgoing fixed-wing fleet.

On December 15, 1978, the Phantom II was decommissioned from the Royal Navy along with the Blackburn Pirates, as was the conventional aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. In an increasingly turbulent world, the Royal Navy has largely had little firepower to deploy, limited to aircraft and its fleet of helicopters operating from land bases.

In the late 1960s, a class of "through deck" carriers was envisaged, far from directly referring to such ships as "aircraft carriers" by their creators for fear that funding applications might be rejected, as CVA-01 here Before. In addition to the new aircraft carrier, the Royal Navy has also been granted permission to study Harrier-based air defence solutions. Two Harriers GR.

The Mk 1 has been tested on the deck of the HMS Eagle for day and night operation, with only minor modifications to the internal systems to compensate for operations at sea. In May 1975, the British government approved the further development of the new aircraft, which was designated the FRS.

Mk 1 "Sea Harrier" ("FRS" stands for "Fighter, Recon, Strike". Three pre-production aircraft were ordered, followed by 31 production units and a single-seat T. Mk 4A trainer.[/ ]

In its current form, the through-deck carrier becomes a trio of "Invincible-class" ships that, while lacking the facilities to accommodate and operate large conventional fixed-wing aircraft, perfectly match the strength of smaller aircraft suitable for Harrier jumping jets. These ships were later collectively referred to as "Harriers" and were equipped with a 12-degree "jump ramp" arrangement at the end of the cockpit - ideal for launching S/VTOL (Short/Vertical Takeoff and Landing) jets.

Since there are only six A new Sea Harrier could fit these new carriers, which explains the small number of production aircraft ordered for the Royal Navy.

The land-based Harrier underwent a slight evolution to become the Sea Harrier, and naval strategists did not turn a blind eye to the small but mighty stature of the Land-based Harrier that came online with the RAF. According to GR. Starting from the Mk 3, the Mk 3 features a redesigned forward fuselage (with a foldable nose cone) to accommodate the Ferranti Blue Fox radar. The Blue Fox radar was critical to the operation of the Royal Navy's Lynx helicopters, so it proved to be a proven system for the new Sea Harrier.

This particular Ferranti product has some modifications to the Sea Harrier to compensate for its air-to-air roll and air-to-ground. The cockpit has been redesigned to be more ergonomic, while the pilot's seating position has been raised a full 10 inches for better visibility from the cockpit under the new "bubble" canopy.

The Martin-Baker Mk 9 Series ejection seat has been replaced by the newer, more responsive Mk 10 model.

The HUD (Heads Up Display) is now powered by a more powerful computer than the land-based Harrier. In place of the inertial unit of the GR, a Doppler pulsed radar was installed. Mk 3 to compensate for sea air travel. The Sea Harrier's radio system has been updated and a simplified form of the autopilot has been implemented.

Vertical hover controls have been improved while maintaining the original landing gear layout. While the Pegasus Mk 104 series turbofan received a new designation, it was nothing more than a "marineized" version of the land-based Mk 103 series with 21,500 pounds of thrust.

All five underwing and centerline pylons have been redesigned for efficiency and responsiveness, while outboard stations are now wired for compatibility with the AIM-9 Sidewinder short-range air-to-air missile. Much of the magnesium in the original Harrier design was replicated in aluminum alloys to slow corrosion of the metal at sea. Likewise, the folding nose cone helps minimize the Harrier's footprint on the carrier.

The T. Mk 4N trainer does not have a space-saving folding nose and therefore cannot be stowed below the flight deck. Despite all these internal changes, the Sea Harrier is only 100 pounds heavier than its terrestrial counterpart.

The first Sea Harrier (Hawker Siddeley P.1184) flew at Dunsford on 20 August 1978, followed by the first landing of the Sea Harrier on 13 November aboard HMS Hermes. Overall, development has encountered relatively few stumbling blocks. The 700A Squadron was formed to conduct intensive deck testing of the new aircraft and release them for operational use.

To further accelerate development, two specially modified Hawker Hunter T. Mk 8 trainer airframes were fitted with Sea Harrier gear for critical flight testing of the system in operation.

On May 15, 1975, the first quantitative production contract was completed, including three pre-production aircraft and twenty-one production Harriers. The Royal Navy also purchased a T. Mk 4A, which was then "gifted" to the RAF for their pilots to train on the RAF Harrier at the same time.

Due to follow-on contracts and high expectations, by the end of the first round, approximately 57 single-seat production Sea Harriers had been ordered. The second production Sea Harrier (XZ451) made its maiden flight on 25 May 1979 and joined the Royal Navy's Intensive Flight Test Unit (IFTU) at Yeovilton on 18 June 1979. The squadron was subsequently disbanded and reconstituted as 899th Squadron on 31 March 1980.

The Sea Harrier was originally deployed from an aircraft carrier and later became No. 800 aboard the HMS Invincible.

A total of four Royal Navy squadrons incorporated this new fighter into their ranks, these became the aforementioned Naval Aviation 800 (23 April 1980), 801 (26 February 1981) and 899 Squadron (NAS). Nos. 800 and 801 represent the carrier-based Sea Harriers, while 899 is a land-based squadron that also trains Harrier pilots. 809 Squadron surfaced briefly during the Falklands War - formed and disbanded in 1982 - to support Task Force Sea Harriers in the conflict.

NAS 800, 801 and 899 were similarly disbanded in 2006.

Walking around

The Sea Harrier retains essentially the same appearance and layout as the land-based hawker Sidley Harrier, with the main exception being the forward hull. The cockpit was raised about 10 inches, and the nose cone was completely redesigned to make room for the new radar systema key component lacking in the base Harrier, which, once installed, made the Sea Harrier a "true" "fighter.

The elevated cockpit also improved the pilot's all-round visibility, as the original Harrier's fuselage ridges nearly blocked his view of the rear of the plane -- the crucial "six" position.

In general, however, the Sea Harrier looks like her overland sister, complete with a swept-back, high-mounted monoplane, traditional single-blade tail and unique bipod landing gear, supplemented by With double wing tip wheel struts. The engine lineup remains the Rolls-Royce-branded Pegasus type, which itself is a special naval version of the Mk 103 - now designated the Mk 104 - with an impressive 21,500 lb standard thrust output (the Sea Harrier, like the base Harrier, is Subsonic, Mach 1 cannot destroy or use afterburners). The engine powers four all-important thrust-vectoring nozzles - the hallmark of the Harrier series - mounted in pairs on either side of the solid fuselage.

Magnesium is used in the husks of sea harriers to combat the salty taste of open sea operations. Various avionics systems were also installed, helping to further differentiate the type from its origin.

Radars do it differently

Westland Lynx helicopters are already making good progress with the "Sea Spray" radar suite, so it's an understandable development that the system can now benefit the new Sea Harrier. Thus, the Feranti Blue Fox Pulse Doppler AI Multimode Radar was born and delivered to the Sea Harrier family with a powerful search and track suite integrated into the Heads Up Display (HUD) and aircraft capable of engaging air and ground with the same enthusiasm and lethality-based targeting.

Improvements during her early production run eventually made the Sea Harrier a more formidable opponent. The HUD has been redesigned and integrated with a new targeting computer to aid in weapon delivery. The autopilot system has been redesigned and engineered to take on more of the pilot's workload -- a godsend for those hour-long missions.

Radar warning receivers were also improved, culminating in the addition of a lifesaving chaff/flare delivery system for countering enemy missiles and radar tracking - the latter in April 1982.

Arms Control

Like previous RAF Harriers, the Sea Harrier uses a pair of optional 30mm ADEN guns mounted on either side of the hull centerline, each gun with approximately 100 rounds. This can easily be complemented by a range of air-to-air and air-to-surface weapons to suit mission roles up to 5,000 lbs, including anti-ship missiles. Ammunition is deployed on four underwing hardpoints on pylons in two inboard and two outboard positions.

Outboard pylons are used to launch the AIM-9 Sidewinder short-range air-to-air missile, and ultimately erect dual launch rails for the missile.

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