British Aerospace Sea Harrier

what is it?

The British Aerospace Sea Harrier is a naval jet fighter, reconnaissance and attack aircraft. The short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) and vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) craft is the second member of the Harrier 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".

🔎How to recognise it: 1 jet engine · 7.7 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 1,145 km/htop speed
• range 1,000 kmwithout refuelling
• size 11.9 tmax take-off weight
• built 111made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 48 years ago, in 1978.
• 🏎️Top speed is 8.8× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🌍Range of 1,000 km: 6× Amsterdam to Brussels.
• 🏔️Can fly 1.8× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

1978-08-20

introduced

1979

retired

2016

status

retired

number built

111

role

v/stol strike fighter

origin

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

makers

British Aerospace, Hawker Siddeley

engines

1× Rolls-Royce Pegasus 106 / Rolls-Royce Pegasus

crew

1

length

14.2 m

wingspan

7.7 m

height

3.7 m

max take-off weight

11.9 t

top speed

1,145 km/h

range

1,000 km

ceiling

15,545 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.

family