HMS Ark Royal - Last Ever Harrier (GR9) Launches, November 2010

These are the last ever Harriers to launch from the Ark Royal, as she heads from Newcastle to Hamburg for the ship's company's last ever foreign trip and 'run ashore'. Both the Harrier and Ark Royal are being de-commissioned (scrapped). A big thanks goes to the incompetent, self-conceited, greedy bankers and part of the coalition government's 'frugal' answer to appease them and plug the infamous 'black hole' of the recession. Thanks, Mr Cameron, I knew you valued the armed forces!

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[professorclown]

I totally agree, there are global hidden agendas at play here, and they are driven by the mighty rich, and yes, they ARE treacherous bastards, all of them!

[xVeRSeii]

what do the british use now

[professorclown]

@xVeRSeii - America!

[mr9396]

What cunt thought it would be a good idea to scrap these beauties?

[professorclown]

@mr9396 Mate, I'm still serving as a Chief Petty Officer, and to be honest, I think all of this is part of just one massive hidden agenda. I still cannot believe that everyone is not rounding on these self conceited bankers - look at the smug arrogance of Stephen Hester & Fred Goodwin! They need shooting! What is wrong with this great country, when people who FAIL monumentally, get a King's ransom in reward? I'd be glad to do their job (incompetently) for a tenth of their wage!

[ShowPolitics]

@111q222p333m444z RN keeps a nuclear attack boat down there,their won't be anything able to land troops on the Falklands. The Astute can hear a ship's screws from 3,000 miles away and monitor maritime traffic between Argentina and the islands efficiently without even violating Argentine territorial limits. The whole Argentine air force would be a pheasant shoot for a Daring air defense destroyer.Those two ships is all the RN needs to stand off an invasion.

[snitch5000]

@xVeRSeii Im afraid we have to wait until the Queen Elizabeth carriers are finished in a few years time. David Cameron and his conservative party should be charged with treason for allowing our country to find ourselves in a position where we have no current aircraft carrier capability!!!!

[TyphoonDelta1]

It beggers belief that our government could scrap such a great aircraft as the harrier, all the years of development thats gone into it just to be thrown away, why the hell hav'nt they instead developed a supersonic version with modern avionics & FBW control?? it was studied in the 70's & proved it could be done !! I will miss the Harrier greatly...

[Solidboat123]

@mr9396 (cont.) Also, there is a dedicated electronic warfare version of the Super Hornet (the EA-18G), and the Super Hornet can be used as an airborne tanker. Neither of these capabilities are offered by Typhoon

[Solidboat123]

@mr9396 Well, like it or not the US is the world leader in terms of naval aviation (equipment wise anyway), because their government, unlike ours, seems to understand its importance. Therefore we can't go far wrong using the same aircraft.

As for the Typhoon being more capable than F-18, it may be a better dog-fighter, but the F-18 is the better ground attack/strike aircraft (my understanding is the Typhoon still isn't fully capable of ground attack missions), therefore the F-18 is more capable

[mr9396]

@Solidboat123. It has been by BAE, believe me. The typhoon is more capable than the f-18, but the hawkeye is a good idea. Thing is though, we don't need to resort to america everytime we want new equipment.

[Solidboat123]

@mr9396 I think the navalised Typhoon has been 'theorised' rather than actually developed. Apparently there are many issues with its suitability for carrier use.

Personally I think we should just get the F/A-18 E/F, the EA-18G, and the E-2 Hawkeye

[andyjet2]

i cannot believe the ark and the harriers have gone

[mr9396]

@ifybeefy. I know about the F-35. But we are getting the F-35C variant, not VTOL, so they take off and land like a F-18. What I've always believed is that we should get the navalised variant of the Typhoon. It has already been developed by BAE, and would have saved us a lot of money, and made lots of british jobs. And the Typhoon is one of the most capable fighter aircraft in the world, some such as myself believe to be the best.

[ifybeefy]

@mr9396 They are being replaced by the F35 Lightning II VTOL which is far more advanced than the Harrier incorporating stealth technology. You will be impressed by these new 5th generation fighters the best in the world comparable only to the US airforce F22 Raptor.