British Aerospace Sea Harrier British Aerospace Sea Harrier The British Aerospace Sea Harrier is a naval short take-off and vertical landing/vertical take-off and landing jet fighter, reconnaissance and attack aircraft; the second member of the Harrier Jump Jet family developed. It first entered service with the Royal Navy in April 1980 as the Sea Harrier FRS1 and became informally known as the ""Shar"". Unusual in an era in which most naval and land-based air superiority fighters were large and supersonic, the principal role of the subsonic Sea Harrier was to provide air defence for Royal Navy task groups centred around the aircraft carriers. The
Hawker Siddeley P.1127 after the P.1154's selection over the Dassault Mirage IIIV. Following the termination of the P.1154, the RAF then began studying a straightforward upgrade of the Kestrel as a production aircraft; accordingly, it issued Requirement ASR 384, which sought a V/STOL ground attack jet, known as the "P.1127 (RAF)". In late 1965, the RAF placed an order for six pre-production P.1127 (RAF) aircraft. On 31 August 1966, the first of these P.1127 (RAF) aircraft made its maiden flight. In early 1967, an order for 60 production aircraft was formally received by Hawker Aviation; at this time the aircraft received the "Harrier