Hawker Siddeley Harrier cancelled after the release of the British Government's 1957 Defence White Paper, which advocated a policy shift away from manned aircraft and towards missiles. This policy resulted in the termination of the majority of aircraft development projects then underway for the British military. Hawker sought to quickly move on to a new project and became interested in Vertical Take Off/Landing (VTOL) aircraft, which did not need runways. According to Air Chief Marshal Sir Patrick Hine this interest may have been stimulated by the presence of Air Staff Requirement 345, which sought a V/STOL ground attack fighter for the Royal Air
Maurice Brennan assistant chief engineer working with Barnes Wallis on variable-geometry aircraft projects that would eventually become the basis of the AFVG project. However, he resigned again after ten months, joining Folland in 1960, replacing Teddy Petter as director and chief engineer. By this time Folland was part of Hawker Siddley, and he was responsible for developing the two-seat Gnat T.1, various twin engined and variable wing geometry Gnat proposals and the GERM hovercraft project (Ground Effect Research Machine). In 1961 he moved to Avro (also part of Hawker Siddley) succeeding Roy Ewans as a director and chief engineer. From 1961-1969 his