[QUOTE=winny;204703]Dunno maybe we're just gonna let the French navy do our dirty work for a while.

loool!!!yes but our RAFALES FIGHTERS BOMBERS CAN'T FLY WITHOUT CRASHS THIS TIMES!!
HARD TO DO A GOOD JOB AS IT!!!

about the french navy...

Yeah its a real shame. Its not like these planes are obsolete, the GR.9 is argueably the best close air suport aircraft in the world. The problem is that that is all it really does, todays combat aircraft need to be multirole.

This wouldn't have happened if they hadn't messed around in upgrading the old FRS1 sea harrier to FA.2 standard with the blue vixen radar. If they had instead taken the new at that time Harrier GR.5 and put the blue vixen in that they would now still have a modern Sea Harrier with all the ground attack capability of the GR.9 aswell as one of the most advanced air intercept radars on the planet, making it multirole as a fleet defender. Its abilities would be far greater than the current AV8B+ Harrier II. If we had this aircraft today I have no doubt it would not be retired.

Whoevers idea it was to update a very old original Sea Harrier design with highly advanced systems when a brand new aircraft design was right there ready to be used, in the end they are the ones at fault.

Very shocking, considering the Royal Navy's proud history. For a land based force it almost makes sense to retire it, I mean, what good is a short field capable combat plane if the big cargo birds can't get in to service it? But at sea, with limited budgets and thus small deck ships, its hard to imagine a better choice than the Harrier. I'm sorry to see it go.

a real shame to let them go. always enjoyed seeing them at air shows. i believe the usmc still has them.

Yes the US marines will continue to use Harriers until they get their F35B. The Spanish and Italian Navies also still fly the same AV8B+ Harrier II as the USMC. So the American Harrier does live on, but the real British Harrier is no more :(

Sea Harrier Over the Falklands: A Maverick at War
 

After reading 'Sea Harrier Over the Falklands: A Maverick at War' by
Commander Nigel "Sharkey" Ward DSC, AFC, RN, you cannot fail to be impressed by this great fighter, far superior to the Tornado.
He says of the Harrier,

'It is because of its flexibility, its inherent flexibility, when we went to the Falklands, the whole world including most of the Royal Air Force was saying they are going to get their bottoms smacked because they’ve got no airpower, well what we had were 20 Sea Harrier aircraft, and the Argentines had 200 military aircraft against us and so we had a battle on our hands which we won because first of all we were very good in fighter combat, secondly, from the carrier you can generate many more sorties per day than you can from an airfield ashore because of the manner in which we do our business and so although we were totally outnumbered we managed to put enough aircraft in the sky all the time to oppose the opposition so you can say almost without any question that the Harrier, or the Sea Harrier as it was called, the Navy Harrier, ensured success in the Falklands.'

With the retirement of the Harrier what do they intend to do with the carrier fleet? Early retirement as well?

The Flagship carrier HMS Ark Royal is gone. After its refit is done HMS Ilustrious will continue as helicopter carrier until it gets decomisioned in 2014. The Royal navy will then have HMS Ocean (an Amphibious Assault ship) fresh from refit working as a helicopter platform flying Sea kings/Merlins, Lynx Wildcats and Apache. This will continue until the new carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth enters service as the worlds biggest Helicopter carrier. Then they will have to decide which carrier they will convert for fixed wing aircraft, the QE or the 2nd new carrier that has to be built even though nobody wants it - HMS Prince of Wales. They will then be able to have USN Super Hornets and French Navy Rafales operating from there untill the F35C finaly arives.

Prince of Wales is s'posed to be big enough for Hornets? Wow. Those big assed, full sized "super" carriers cost a fortune. Seems like it would be cheaper to keep a few smaller "helicopter" ships around complete w Harriers and add the F-35's later as they become available. What am I missing?