Harrier
ICAO HARThe jump jet: the only Western combat aircraft that hovers, and nearly gone. Live Harrier positions.
Flying right now
Live · 30s
No Harrier is transmitting ADS-B at the moment.
Military aircraft are not obliged to broadcast, so this happens regularly. The count refreshes every thirty seconds.
Airframe
- Manufacturer
- British Aerospace and McDonnell Douglas
- Role
- V/STOL attack
- Class
- L1J — Landplane, 1 jet engine
- Crew
- 1, or 2 in the trainer
- First flight
- 28 December 1967
- In service
- 1969
Operators airborne
Nothing of this type is up right now.
About the Harrier
The Harrier does something no other Western combat aircraft has managed in service: it takes off vertically. Four nozzles around the fuselage rotate to point the engine's entire thrust downward, and the pilot flies the hover on a separate lever, balancing on the jet.
It made its name in the Falklands, where Sea Harriers operating from small carriers held off a much larger air force, and it gave navies without full-size carriers a real fast jet. The later AV-8B Harrier II is a substantially redesigned American aircraft with a composite wing.
It is almost finished. Britain retired its Harriers in 2010 and sold the airframes to the United States for spares; the US Marine Corps is withdrawing the AV-8B by around 2027 as the F-35B replaces it, leaving Italy and Spain with small fleets. Expect this page to be empty.
Callsign prefixes
- NAVY
- US Marine Corps AV-8B flights
- IAM
- Italian Navy AV-8B
- AME
- Spanish Navy AV-8B
How to recognise it
- —Four exhaust nozzles on the fuselage sides, two forward and two aft — nothing else has them.
- —A high shoulder-mounted wing with outrigger wheels at the tips and a bicycle undercarriage.
- —A bulbous nose and a cockpit set high and well forward.
Common questions
+ Does the Harrier really take off vertically?
It can, but rarely does in service. A short rolling takeoff lets it carry far more fuel and weapons, so vertical launches are mostly reserved for demonstrations. Vertical landings, once the weapons are gone, are routine.
+ Is the Harrier still in service?
Only just. Italy and Spain fly small AV-8B fleets and the US Marine Corps is retiring its aircraft by around 2027. Britain withdrew the type in 2010.
+ What replaced it?
The F-35B, which is the only current fighter with a short takeoff and vertical landing capability. It uses a lift fan rather than vectored nozzles.