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"It's not an AF plane but the Harrier has to be the nosiest jet there is. IMO"

I was watching the military channel the other day, and they had a program on vertical take off flight. One of the segments showed a variation of the F-22 design doing a vertical take off. It is supposed to be a big improvement of the basic design idea of the Harrier. There are doors on top of the fuselage that open (inlet) and a fan powered by the engine directs the airflow that provides the lift.

The program mentioned that Marine Corp is the branch of the service that has the Harriers for close in support and accessibility. Interestingly, the Russians had a Harrier they used in Afghanistan, but after one or two landings, sucking in rocks, the engine was gone. Seems they were trying to find a cheap way to have Carriers like the U.S. I think they also mentioned that the U.S. had successfully used Harriers from the busted up runway at Bagram at some phase in that war.
I have to take my hat off to the Brits for making the Harrier work practically at some level.
The program was rather critical of the difficulty in the flying all of the vertical take off designs. I'm not a pilot and was never in the Air Force. I just find the technology employed in today's modern military aircraft absolutely amazing to behold, including the bio-technology employed to keep the limited design human being alive, while the jets perform their amazing capabilities. Today's modern military aircraft are truly one of the most extreme partnerships ever of man and machine.

If you look around the internet, you will find a "Wheel of Misfortune" which shows all the design approaches that have been used to try to get vertical takeoff with high speed flight. The mechanical linkage used by the JSF and the internal propellor that can be canned back up for high speed flight, makes as much sense as anything. Still, it needs a very good engine to have enough left over for that much mechanical take off. Lockheed did the JSF right. I was very glad that the program authorities didn't select the Monica-Boeing version. And so are the mothers of the sailors that won't be sucked into the inlet.