advertisement
BAE F/A.2 Sea Harrier |
|
|
Name: Sea Harrier F/A.2
Sea Harrier BackgroundSea Harrier FRS.2 (FA.2) / T.8Last revised December 1, 2002 Despite the success of the Sea Harrier in the Falklands, many Royal Navy officers realized they had been lucky, since the Shar had taken on a task it hadn't really been designed for, and much of the type's success was due to the superlative AIM-9L missile. The war demonstrated specific deficiencies with the Sea Harrier. It couldn't stay in the air long enough; two Sidewinders weren't enough; the Sidewinder didn't have ""stand-off"" range; and, to no great surprise, the Blue Fox radar had not been quite up to the job, particularly because of its lack of ""look down"" capability. An interim ""Phase I Update"" was implemented immediately after the war, with refits beginning in the summer of 1982 and ending in 1987. This involved two straightforward enhancements, in the form of a new 854 liter (225 US gallon) drop tank to replace the existing 455 liter (120 US gallon) drop tank, and a launch rack to allow carriage of two Sidewinders on each outer pylon, doubling the Sea Harrier's missile capacity to four. Other small changes were added in the Phase I Update. One was a scheme known as ""nozzle inching"" or ""nozzle nudging"" that allowed a Sea Harrier pilot to perform limited adjustment of the nozzle position using the airbrake switch on top of the throttle, reducing the ""three-hand"" workload in STOVL flight. Although the technique only could change the nozzle position by a maximum of ten degrees, it proved very useful in allowing the pilot to fine-tune his flight condition. Another modification was the addition of an advanced instrument landing system designated ""Microwave Aircraft Digital Guidance Equipment (MADGE)"" to help in carrier landings in bad weather. In addition, the FRS.1 was fitted with a backup power generator system. The pop-up ram-air turbine emergency power generator was deleted. It had always been a little dubious, since it was to be used if the engine flamed out. Any pilot in his right mind who couldn't get a relight after a flameout would simply eject, since the idea of dead-stick landing a Sea Harrier, with its tiny wings and 3:1 glide slope, onto a carrier was implausible. One change had been in process before the Falklands War: fit and qualification of the Sea Harrier for launching the BAE ""Sea Eagle"" long-range turbojet-powered antiship missile. The Sea Eagle went into service in 1987. A Sea Harrier FRS.1 could carry two Sea Eagles. Although the FRS.1 didn't have the radar systems to perform its own targeting for the Sea Eagle, the aircraft could receive targeting cues from other platforms, such as a BAE Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft. The Sea Eagle was designed for open-ocean combat and was not suited to the ""littoral"" (offshore) naval warfare environment that came to be the norm in the 1990s, and so they are no longer carried by RN Sea Harriers. The missile remains in service with India. The other limitations required more work, and a ""Phase II Update"" program to the existing FRS.1 fleet was put in motion in 1983, with a contract issued to BAE in 1985. The upgraded Sea Harrier, which was also the basis for new production, was designated the ""Fighter Reconnaissance Strike Mark 2 (FRS.2)"" and first flew on 19 September 1988. The FRS.2 began trials with an operational evaluation unit in the early summer of 1993, with the first one going to a full operational unit in September of that year. The main enhancements were replacement of the Blue Fox radar with the Ferranti ""Blue Vixen"" radar, and the ability to carry up to four American ""AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missiles (AMRAAM)"". The Blue Vixen is far superior to the older Blue Fox, with 11 operating modes; greater range; a ""look down"" capability; a ""track while scan"" capability that allows the radar to follow a target while scanning the sky for new targets; and some degree of ""low probability of intercept (LPI)"" capability to allow the radar to detect targets without alerting the target's RWR. Blue Vixen is also much ""smarter"" and easier to operate than the Blue Fox, with one Sea Harrier pilot saying that with Blue Vixen performing an intercept was ""down to selecting 'air to air', pointing the aircraft in roughly the right direction, and leaving the radar to it."" It is regarded as state of the art among fighter radars. AMRAAM is essentially a much-improved AIM-7 Sparrow derivative, with higher speed; a greater range of about 48 kilometers (30 miles); less smoke signature; and a fully-active radar guidance system that gives it a degree of ""fire and forget"" capability. The Blue Vixen radar and the AMRAAM give the FRS.2 a formidable capability to engage and destroy intruders at ""beyond visual range (BVR)"", and at relatively short ranges a Shar pilot can even fire all four missiles together to attack four separate targets. The FRS.2 was the first European aircraft to be qualified for the AMRAAM. While once Sea Harrier pilots felt themselves at a disadvantage against other modern fighters, the FRS.2 with its formidable armament and radar did much to level the playing field in air combat. The FRS.2 can carry two AMRAAMS on the outer pylons, and two on pylons attached to the belly in place of the cannon. In fact, the cannon are not generally fitted for most missions, though they still remain available when needed. Alternatively, the FRS.2 can carry two AMRAAMS and four Sidewinders. The FRS.2 is about 35 centimeters (13.75 inches) longer than the FRS.1, to accommodate the new avionics and the new radar, which are housed in a distinctive longer and more cylindrical nose. Wingtip extensions were originally considered to compensate for the aerodynamic effects of carrying the AMRAAM, but proved unnecessary. However, minor aerodynamic changes to the wings were implemented. A new Pegasus variant, the ""Pegasus 106"", a rebuild and refinement of the navalized Pegasus 104, is fitted as the powerplant. The cockpit was reworked (again) to provide such niceties as multi-function displays and a ""hands on throttle and stick (HOTAS)"" control system. A better nav/attack system was added, as well as the Marconi Sky Guardian RWR. The updated aircraft also features a MIL-STD-1553B databus. GPS navigation capability was eventually added as well, through the simple expedient of mounting a Garmin 100 handheld GPS receiver and wiring it to an antenna fitted behind the ejection seat. 33 FRS.1s were upgraded to convert them to FRS.2 spec, with the last FRS.1 going in for conversion in 1995 and the last ""rebuild"" FRS.2 delivered in 1997. 18 new FRS.2s were ordered and delivered from 1995 into 1998, with the last of the batch, delivered on 24 December 1998 as a ""Christmas present"" to the Royal Navy, being the final ""all British"" Harrier built. It was photographed alongside one of the surviving P.1127 as a publicity stunt. In addition, the Royal Navy obtained seven ""T Mark 8"" trainers, all of which were conversions from existing Royal Navy and RAF two-seaters. The T.8 is similar to the T.4N, but features updated avionics and cockpit layout better matching the Sea Harrier FRS.2. The T.8 is not fitted with Blue Vixen radar. Initial flight of the first T.8 was in 1994 with initial delivery in 1995. The FRS.2 upgrade and procurement program gave the Royal Navy a respectable fleet of 51 Sea Harriers. The FRS-2 took the place of the FRS.1 in Balkan patrols, having begun operational evaluation flights there in 1994. The FRS.2 is now, as of May 1994, actually known as the ""FA.2"" where ""FA"" stands for ""Fighter Attack"". The ""R"" for reconnaissance was dropped as the Sea Harrier had never really been used or fitted for that mission, the Royal Navy having never bothered to obtain a reconnaissance pod for the type. The ""S"" for ""Strike"" was changed to ""A"" for ""Attack"" apparently because the Sea Harrier's nuclear strike mission was mothballed in 1991 as part of the general drawdown of Western tactical nuclear forces. Actually, to be nitpicky about it, the original new designation was ""F/A.2"" but the ""/"" was dropped a year after the change, apparently because it aped American designation schemes too much. Plans had been in place to keep the Sea Harrier in FAA service until 2012 at least, when the STOVL version of the Lockheed Martin ""Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)"" was expected to take over. Britain has been a major contributor to the JSF program and expects it to eventually replace all Harriers in FAA in RAF service. However, in early 2002 the Ministry of Defense stated that withdrawal would begin in 2004 and be completed by 2006. It is likely that the surplus Sea Harriers will be sold on the world market. The plan is that the FAA will adopt the RAF second-generation Harrier II instead, though as these machines lack a long-range air-to-air combat capability that will leave a capability shortfall until the JSF comes on line. This issue is discussed in more detail in the next chapter.
The Indian Navy has considered updating their 22 surviving Mark 51s but so
far has lacked the funding to have them brought up to FRS.2 specification or
something like it. Rumor has it that India has considered an alternate
upgrade program proposed the Israelis, with the Mark 51s fitted with a
derivative of the Elta ELM-2032 and carrying a new Rafael BVR air-to-air
missile. They may be very interested in buying up Britain's surplus F/A.2s.
DimensionsWing Span: 25.26 ft. / 7.70 M
Power & PerformancePowerplant(s): 1x Rolls-Royce Pegasus Mk.106 vectored thrust turbofan
Armament2 x 30mm cannon, 2268 kg (5000 lbs.) external ordinance UsersIndia, UK |
