buffnut453
Captain
Don't like the Harrier slagging. The Falklands showed the Harrier to be a very useful machine. It can also use some of the poor runways in Afghanistan. It representing the finest in British engineering when that phrase meant something.
Basket,
If that comment is directed at me, I'm not slagging the Harrier - having deployed on operations with them I have a soft spot for the aircraft. And I agree the Pegasus engine is an engineering marvel. However, the Harrier's raison d'etre is long gone and even if it can use some of the poorer airfields in AF, that means you have to send more troops to defend that airfield, in addition to the troops required to defend a conventional airfield - this equals more cost, more personnel exposed to risk etc etc. I agree they were useful in the Falklands and, as I mentioned, I think taking them out of service in 2011 is a tad too soon but in the long run we don't need STOVL and the CTOL F-35 makes much more sense as a "replacement" on a conventional carrier design than all the preceding indecision and the ludicrous multi-mode "cataramp" carrier design .