A deal to flog the entire British Harrier jump jet fleet to the United States Marine Corps for use as spare parts has been announced today. This is a sad day for our nation - and our defence capability is much reduced by the permanent loss of probably the best all-round British fighter aircraft to have been designed and built in the UK since the Second World War. The Ministry of Defence is keen to convince the public that the Harrier fleet was obsolescent and that the new Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) will be much better. I'm not so sure myself. I think the only reason the Harrier fleet was decommissioned was to save money; I don't believe for one moment that the decision was in Britain's strategic national defence interests, and neither do I believe that the Harrier is fundamentally past it. It can't be stressed enough what an incredible example of pioneering Great British engineering the Harrier jump jet was when it first entered service with the RAF in 1969. The original Hawker Siddeley Harrier with its Rolls-Royce Bristol Pegasus vectored-thrust turbofan engine was a revolutionary plane - its short/vertical take off capability rendering it a remarkably versatile fighter suitable for use in a broad range of theatres and for various types of operation. The Harrier was able to operate from makeshift bases and short runways (on land) where conventional fixed wing fighters could not, as well as from aircraft carriers. It was excellent for close support, reconnaissance, ground attack and air defence. Harrier fighter jets were widely deployed with great success by the RAF and the Royal Navy over the forty years the Harrier was in service - perhaps most famously in the 1982 conflict to recover the Falklands. I personally do not think the Harrier was past it - for there is no other plane quite like it; indeed I do not believe the JSF can match the sheer operational flexibility afforded to our armed forces by the Harrier. Scrapping the Harrier fleet was all about saving money in the current economic climate, but we should not kid ourselves that our national defence capability is unaffected - rather it is significantly diminished. The UK is in grave danger of being caught with its pants down as new threats arise to confront us in the rapidly evolving dynamics of the 21st century's global political plots and power struggles. The loss of the Harrier fleet is not just a loss to British manufacturing and engineering and of British military prestige: it is a significant reduction of our essential military power. The lack of foresight in getting rid of the Harriers could prove disastrous; my fear is that this loss of capability will come back to bite us severely in the not too distant future.
Thursday, 24 November 2011
Flogging off our RAF family silver
A deal to flog the entire British Harrier jump jet fleet to the United States Marine Corps for use as spare parts has been announced today. This is a sad day for our nation - and our defence capability is much reduced by the permanent loss of probably the best all-round British fighter aircraft to have been designed and built in the UK since the Second World War. The Ministry of Defence is keen to convince the public that the Harrier fleet was obsolescent and that the new Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) will be much better. I'm not so sure myself. I think the only reason the Harrier fleet was decommissioned was to save money; I don't believe for one moment that the decision was in Britain's strategic national defence interests, and neither do I believe that the Harrier is fundamentally past it. It can't be stressed enough what an incredible example of pioneering Great British engineering the Harrier jump jet was when it first entered service with the RAF in 1969. The original Hawker Siddeley Harrier with its Rolls-Royce Bristol Pegasus vectored-thrust turbofan engine was a revolutionary plane - its short/vertical take off capability rendering it a remarkably versatile fighter suitable for use in a broad range of theatres and for various types of operation. The Harrier was able to operate from makeshift bases and short runways (on land) where conventional fixed wing fighters could not, as well as from aircraft carriers. It was excellent for close support, reconnaissance, ground attack and air defence. Harrier fighter jets were widely deployed with great success by the RAF and the Royal Navy over the forty years the Harrier was in service - perhaps most famously in the 1982 conflict to recover the Falklands. I personally do not think the Harrier was past it - for there is no other plane quite like it; indeed I do not believe the JSF can match the sheer operational flexibility afforded to our armed forces by the Harrier. Scrapping the Harrier fleet was all about saving money in the current economic climate, but we should not kid ourselves that our national defence capability is unaffected - rather it is significantly diminished. The UK is in grave danger of being caught with its pants down as new threats arise to confront us in the rapidly evolving dynamics of the 21st century's global political plots and power struggles. The loss of the Harrier fleet is not just a loss to British manufacturing and engineering and of British military prestige: it is a significant reduction of our essential military power. The lack of foresight in getting rid of the Harriers could prove disastrous; my fear is that this loss of capability will come back to bite us severely in the not too distant future.
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Uncle Sam will be buying some new discs for the angle grinder ready to cut these awesome machines up. Unthinkable.
ReplyDeleteI guess the USMC is most likely to cannibalise them for avionics and engine parts. But I suppose pretty much anything that can be stripped out can potentially be re-used.
ReplyDeleteThe crazy thing is that the Americans don't really need this deal or these planes anyway; the Americans are basically doing us a favour by buying the Harrier fleet since we were stupid/desperate enough to decommission it.
Militarily the US don't need these planes, but I believe they were of considerable importance to our defence and to our ability to project ourselves in the British interest.
You're a bit out of touch Richard. The UK Harrier squadrons have not flown for nearly a year.
ReplyDeleteAnd the Lightning was much better anyway..