U.S. Marines launch first Harrier jet air raids over Afghanistan

Associated Press | November 3, 2001 | CHRIS TOMLINSON

[Knightsofswing]

Sir; The Harrier [AV-A & B & C] models can be extermly hard to fly. This is why they are refered to as the "North Carolina Lawndart" or "Widomaker" It has only 1 engine and operates like no other aircraft & and is it loud !!! I an suprised that the Afgan terreriosts can not hear it. They must be deaf!! I spent 4 years in Yume AZ. with the Crash, Fire, Rescue Dept. and sitting within feet of them taking off & landing, it takes a toll on all of the crews who service,operate, and generaly assist with the "birds". By the way has anybody ID the squardrons who were in the attact today? If so I can be e-mailed at sgtsman1@hotmail.com. Don't forget next Sat. NOV. 10. is the MARINE CORPS Birthday!! SEMPER FI, BROTHERS & SISTERS in uniform!!! Respectfully Robert M.[Mike] Suchman SGT USMC[Ret]

[Knightsofswing]

Sir; Maj Greg Boyington's Squardron VMA-214 was involved in WWII, and they still exist in Yuma AZ. They fly the AV 8 B model [both day & night attack version] There is no F/A 18's based in Yuma, AZ to this date[yet!!]

[BunnySlippers]

Ha! Very cute. No wonder we'll win this war! Now if they'll only recuit my large black kitty named Harley.

[anniegetyourgun]

Take my cat too....please.....

[BunnySlippers]

LOL ... I was just thinking of Chris Matthews silly interview with Jesse Jackson when Jackson wanted to go talk to the Taliban. About 20 times during the course of the interview he kept referring to "TERRIER-ISM" as though we were at war with a bunch of small dogs. :-)

[anniegetyourgun]

Hey, now lots in the Terrier Group are little terrorists, in my opinion! In fact, with certain breeds the judges will ask two exhibitors to display the sparing instinct.

As a dog person, I always avoid getting stuck doing ring steward duties with the terrier judge! The only thing worse is working the German Shepherd breed ring.

[Lessismore]

Aren't you in effect "mouthing off" in consequence of not knowing a thing about what their mission was?

Could be. On the other hand maybe their mission was to give the Marines some press coverage -- every branch has to get some, you know.

How many times would a Harrier have to be refueled to reach Afghanistan from an aircraft carrier?

[rmlew]

Illbay wrote:

Can anyone here explain to me the advantages of the Harrier? I realize the Marines are the only ones to fly them. Why are they considered especially suited to the Marines' mission?

Harriers are Vertical/Short Take-Off and Landing (V/STOL) jets. This allows them to operate from short and unprepared runways, helo-pads, and small carriers. They are also extremely manueverable and make excellent precision bomber even with iron bombs. Unfortunately, they are sub-mach jets, are hard to fly, and yell "please hit me" to any heat-seeking missle.
Harriers are used by a number of nations besides the US. They are used for ground attack and support by the British army. They are the primary jet for countries with small carriers including Britain, Spain, Italy, India, and eventially Thailand. They are a platform for guided munitions, dumb-bumbs, rockets, and missles. According to Janes, British naval Harriers (FR-2) are even equiped with the Sea Eagle anti-shipping missle.
The US Marines and British RAF are planning to replace the Harrier with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter starting in 2008.

I find two announcements by the Pentagon interesting
1) We are using Harriers
2) We now have access to airfields in either Tajikistan and/or Uzbekistan.
The rough airfields of the former USSR would be unsuitable for F-16's or F-18's. They are perfect for Harriers supporting the 10 Mountian division when it moves in. Perhaps I'm getting ahead of things, but I believe that we will shotly have land based Harriers supplimenting those from American and British carriers.
Ron

[ROCKLOBSTER]

How many babies will they kill?

Not nearly as many as the femi-nazi murder/borts.

[US_MilitaryRules]

A-10 because we have no bases to operate out of yet. But I think Rummy just secured that part of the conflict!! Go Rummy!!

[spanky_mcfarland]

"LOL ... I was just thinking of Chris Matthews silly interview with Jesse Jackson when Jackson wanted to go talk to the Taliban. About 20 times during the course of the interview he kept referring to "TERRIER-ISM" as though we were at war with a bunch of small dogs. :-)" Mebbe we should axe him if we can check his credik and see if he be fin' ta go!

[SevenDaysInMay]

Arnold S. with help demonstrated Harriers on bridges and floor sweeping in his comedy 'True Lies'.

[Ronzo]

Can anyone here explain to me the advantages of the Harrier? I realize the Marines are the only ones to fly them. Why are they considered especially suited to the Marines' mission?

I'll give it a try...

1) A Harrier can take off and land on ANY SHIP IN THE NAVY. Not so F-14's, F-18's, EA-6B's, and other carrier born jets. A Harrier can take off and land on a ship as small as an Oliver H. Perry class frigate. They also can be flown from the decks from many of the Navy's amphibious assualt ships, especially those that look like WW2 Essex class carriers, like the Tarawa class LHA and the Wasp class LPH. As a matter of fact, those class of ships just mentioned are the ones that normally carry Harriers, along with a battalion of Marines. (I guess they like to keep their air support REALLY CLOSE to their combat troops...)

2) The Harrier DOES NOT require an airfield to operate from. Any clearing will do. Marines don't think it's all that smart using men & equipment to build airfield's for air support when there's a battle to be fought. Just think of all the equipment & logistics needed to build even a simple dirt strip, and you will understand why it's a good idea to avoid that sort of thing when possible.

3) They are small, but very flexible little planes that can drop bombs, blow up tanks, or even act as jet fighters. They are true mulit-role aircraft. You get a lot of capability for your hard earned DoD tax dollar...

4) They are simple to maintain, and are logisticaly simple to support. Marines like to keep things simple.

5) The Falklands War. Enough said.

[dglang]

We still can't guarantee that they don't have any remaining stingers or other low level air defenses. Everything flying now is up high but the A10's fly a lot lower when engaging their targets and are easier to hit.

[dglang]

YUP. But that wasn't a real harrier, just a mockup when he was in the seat and even though it does convey the aircrafts ability, it still isn't the real thing.

[piasa]

[WhiskeyPapa]

I have never been impressed by the Harrier as a combat weapon.

The -only- good thing about the Harrier is the short/vertical take off ability. It was thought that Warsaw Pact forces would attack all the NATO air bases in any general European war. That doesn't apply now, of course.

I have never much liked the Harrier either. Short range, small load, for the money.

Walt

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

A technique known as VIFFing; Vectoring In Forward Flight and developed by Marine Harrier pilots not the Brits.

[SevenDaysInMay]

Really? My faith in Hollywood is shaken.