Top 5 Facts: Harriers

Old Boy

The Sea Harrier was in service for a total of 28 years, from August 1978 to March 2006. The second-generation Sea Harrier FA2 was introduced in April 1993

Post-colonial

The only other international operator of the Sea Harrier is actually India, who use their own FRS51 variant armed with R550 Magic air-to-air missiles

Invincible

The first ever Sea Harrier confirmed as operational launched off the Invincible class aircraft carrier HMS Invincible in 1981, a purpose-designed VTOL/STOL carrier

Vixen

The second-generation Sea Harrier, the FA2, featured the Blue Vixen radar, the predecessor that formed the basis of the system used in the Eurofighter Typhoon

Forgetful

The second-generation Sea Harrier was also the first British aircraft to be armed with the US AIM-120 AMRAM, a fire and forget high-explosive air-to-air missile.