Hawker Siddeley Harrier

The AV-8A's abilities in air-to-air combat were tested by the Marine Corps by conducting mock dog-fights with [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]; these exercises trained pilots to use the Vectoring in forward flight (VIFF) capability to out-manoeuvre their opponents and showed that the Harriers could act as effective air-to-air fighters at close range.

The success of Harrier operations countered scepticism of V/STOL aircraft—which had been judged to be expensive failures in the past.

Marine Corps officers became convinced of the military advantages of the Harrier and pursued extensive developments of the aircraft.

Starting in 1979 the USMC began upgrading their AV-8As to the AV-8C configuration—the work focused mainly on extending useful service lives and improving VTOL performance.

The AV-8C and the remaining AV-8A Harriers were retired when the Harrier II, designated as the AV-8B, was introduced from the mid-1980s onwards.

The performance of the Harrier in USMC service led to calls for the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] to procure Harrier IIs in addition to the USMC's own plans, but these never resulted in Air Force orders.

Un AV 8 C

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AV 8C

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