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  1. Copilot Answer
    National originUnited Kingdom
    StatusRetired
    The Sea Harrier: A Jump-Jet Legend
    The Sea Harrier: A Jump-Jet Legend
    In the late 1970s, the Royal Navy faced a dilemma: how to operate fixed-wing jets from small and vulnerable carriers. The solution was the British Aerospace Sea Harrier, a naval version of the groundbreaking Harrier jump-jet.
    Development

    In the post-World War II era, the Royal Navy began contracting in size. By 1960, the last battleship, HMS Vanguard, was retired from the Navy, having been in service for less than fifteen years. In 1966 the planned CVA-01 class … See more

    Design

    The Sea Harrier is a subsonic aircraft designed for strike, reconnaissance and fighter roles. It features a single Rolls-Royce Pegasus turbofan engine with two intakes and four vectorable nozzles. It has two landing gea… See more

    Operational history

    The first three Sea Harriers were a development batch and were used for clearance trials. The first production aircraft was delivered to RNAS Yeovilton in 1979 to form an Intensive Flying Trials Unit, 700A Naval Air S… See more

    Variants

    Sea Harrier FRS.1 57 FRS1s were delivered between 1978 and 1988; most survivors converted to Sea Harrier FA2 specifications from 1988. Sea Harrier FRS.51 Single-seat fighter, … See more