Hawker Siddeley much larger firms. Out of this decision, came the "order" that all future contracts being offered had to include agreements to merge companies. In 1959, Folland Aircraft was acquired, followed by de Havilland Aircraft Company and Blackburn Aircraft in 1960. In 1963, the names of the constituent companies were dropped, with products being rebranded as ""Hawker Siddeley"" or ""HS"". In this period, the company developed the first operational, and, by far, the most successful VTOL jet aircraft, the Harrier family. This aircraft remained in production into the 1990s and remains in service. In 1948, Hawker Siddeley acquired a factory in
Harrier Jump Jet the type, receiving 102 AV-8A and 8 TAV-8A Harriers between 1971 and 1976. The British Aerospace Sea Harrier is a naval V/STOL jet fighter, reconnaissance and attack aircraft; it was a navalised development of the Hawker Siddeley Harrier. The first version entered service with the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm in April 1980 as the "Sea Harrier FRS.1", and was informally known as the "Shar". Sea Harriers played a high-profile role in the Falklands War of 1982, flying from the aircraft carriers HMS "Invincible" and HMS "Hermes". Wartime experiences led to the production of an improved model in the form