Harrier GR.9 launching from HMS Illustrious
Posted on 10/31/2010 11:41:55 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
UK seeks buyers for axed Harriers
By Alex Barker, Political Correspondent
Published: October 31 2010 22:31
Britain is to hang a “for sale” sign on its decommissioned fleet of Harrier jump-jets as ministers attempt to find buyers for aircraft they can no longer afford to fly.
India and the US are the two most promising markets for more than 50 of the most up-to-date Harriers, which will otherwise be consigned to the scrap-yard or museum.
Peter Luff, defence procurement minister, told the Financial Times that some of the kit axed in the defence review – including the Nimrod reconnaissance aircraft – might still find a home abroad.
“I don’t want to speculate about the market,” he said. “I don’t want them to feel as if they are being bounced. But we are looking at the options quite carefully at the moment. There are overseas markets, particularly for the Harrier.”
Such a sale, even at knock-down prices, would be a boon for the Ministry of Defence as it attempts to meet a steep target for annual savings this year.
However, defence officials and industry figures acknowledge that there are limited prospects of a quick sale, given the alternatives on the market and the handful of nations with experience of flying Harriers.
The likelihood of finding an outlet for the Nimrod MRA4 spy aircraft is even slimmer, not least because the production is still incomplete, over budget and running nine years late.
Some surveillance technology may also be too sensitive to export.
Cancelling the Harrier, which played a role in the recapture of the Falklands in 1982,
(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
Harrier GR.9 launching from HMS Illustrious
Are the Brits nuts!!!??? You have Argentina chomping at the bits as Britain is set to drill for oil around the Falklands. Now they will build two modern aircraft carriers with only helicopters??!!!!!! If the Brits are smart, mothball the Harriers until the carriers get modern jet aircraft like the F-35. Mirage III, V and A-4 Skyhawks will make mincemeat out of carrier borne helicopters.
I always wondered why the US didn't prefer having more VTOL or a large number of VTOL jets.
I think they’ve gone completely off the rails!
How pathetic is that?
ping
One thing a lot of people are missing is that the Navy is sacrificing the Harriers to save the carriers.
It’s going to be a lot easier next year or the year after to persuade the government to pony up money for a couple of squadron of fighters (especially if you can point out how embarrassing it will be to have carriers without any) than it would be to get them to restart the carrier project if it was cancelled.
The Queen Elizabeth class will be large enough to operate conventional fighters - the RN is no longer bound to having the VSTOL capability for which the Harriers are still the only option for the moment.
If the VSTOL F35 had met the expected schedule, this wouldn’t really be an issue - but the fact is, the plane they wanted isn’t going to be ready and while I’d prefer they avoided any possibility of a gap by keeping the Harriers, the Royal Navy may well have other plans they are not revealing to the media.
I feel absolutely no pity for UK populace, since they freely elected Commies time after time, and then a “RINO”. UK is completely corrupt and undeserving of freedom! JMHO
This means the limeys will be asking us for planes to defend the Falklands.
I’ll take two...well I would if I could aford ‘em.
VietVet
Fixed!
Fixed your fix.
Whuuuups!! Took us out of there too. As if ... ...
Thanks; caught it when I scanned my Pings. :^)
Hardly. You forget that, unlike in 1982, there are now Eurofighter Typhoons permanently based in the Falklands on a well-defended modern air base.
Exactly!
They need to save the carriers. They, the Fleet Air Arm, never really wanted large numbers of the F-35 VSTOL. They wanted proper carriers with angled decks (which they invented!!). The RAF forced them to take jump decks with a later option to convert to angled decks for a F-35 follow-on aircraft.
I’m not sure of the details on the configuration, but now both carriers will be built. Hopefully, they will be built with the angled decks, and not the jump decks.
Then, as you quite rightly point out, they can come back in better times for an air wing. An air wing - even if just older F-18s - can be put together quickly. Without real carriers, it’d take 10-15 years to build one.
WE NEED the Brits to have real carriers with the ability to achieve air superiority in distant regions. We simply don’t have the coverage necessary with less than 13 active carrier battle groups available (Reagan had it right, we needed 15+).
The ability to project power on short notice anywhere, anytime is essential.
The RAF is sacrificing the Harriers.
Both the Navy and RAF Harriers are gone, sir.
Securing Britain in an Age of Uncertainty: The Strategic Defence and Security Review:
In terms of the Royal Navy, we will complete the construction of two large aircraft carriers. The Government believes it is right for the United Kingdom to retain, in the long term, the capability that only aircraft carriers can provide – the ability to deploy air power from anywhere in the world, without the need for friendly air bases on land. In the short term, there are few circumstances we can envisage where the ability to deploy airpower from the sea will be essential. That is why we have, reluctantly, taken the decision to retire the Harrier aircraft, which has served our country so well.
Their real threat is the muslim horde already living in their midst.
The politicians are too busy helping the muslims destroy their culture and turn them all into Mohammad’s handmaidens to worry about maintaining a military.
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