US set to buy scrapped UK Harrier fleet

[1938 Observer]

US set to buy scrapped UK Harrier fleet

16 November 2011 | By Will Inglis


Britain’s entire fleet of mothballed Harrier jump jets looks set to be sold to the US Navy and Marine Corps.

The US newspaper the Navy Times revealed that negotiations to buy all 74 aircraft - scrapped under the Strategic Defence & Security Review last October - are already in the final stages of negotiations.

Rear Admiral Mark Heinrich, chief of the US navy's supply corps, is quoted as saying: "We're taking advantage of all the money the Brits have spent on them.

"It's like we're buying a car with maybe 15,000 miles on it. These are very good platforms. And we've already got trained pilots."

The Ministry of Defence has confirmed it is negotiating the sale but has refused to disclose how much the US military is offering.

An MOD spokesman said: “We are currently negotiating the sale of Harrier assets to the US Government. It would therefore be inappropriate to comment on the future of the Harrier fleet at this time.”

All 74 British Harriers are in storage at RAF Cottesmore in Rutland in airworthy condition in readiness for sale.

FACTS:

Brought into service in 1969 and based at RAF Wittering, the Harrier was designed to take off and land both vertically and on a short runway.

Well known for its role in the Falklands War, the Harrier went on to serve in many other conflicts including Bosnia and Iraq in the 1990s.

The RAF and Royal Navy Harrier squadrons joined forces in 2000 to form Joint Force Harrier, based at RAF Cottesmore. These combined Harrier squadrons served in Sierra Leone, the Second Gulf War and Afghanistan.

there is an informative video of 2 min 31 secs. at the link---worth watching



http://www.bfbs.com/news/navy/us-set...eet-53485.html

[miolchu]

I've only seen a Harrier up close and personal once. A cousin stationed at a Naval Air Station in southwest Arizona flew up to Ellsworth Air Force Base. I got a tour of the flightline.

What I remember was how loud they were, even when the engine was running on idle power settings. There was a Canadian FA18 on the flightline next to it running at idle power, it whispered. On takeoff the Harrier rotated after an extremely short takeoff roll. The FA18 departed a minute later after a much longer takeoff roll and passed the Harrier about five miles southwest of the runway. Two very different aircraft designed for two very different missions.

It is amazing that the Harrier still has a mission 40 years after the first ones were produced.

[sandyc]

And it is more "amazing" that we are actually "selling them", and for a BARGAIN price. Yet another nail in the coffin of our so-called defence / attack abilities.
Surprised that King Alex Salmond did not buy them as a start to the Independent Scottish Air force...
Sandy

[1938 Observer]

Worldwide
Harrier fleets packed and ready to go
10 January 2012 | Worldwide
British Forces News.

The last images of Britain's Harrier fleet packaged ready for shipping to their new owners America have appeared in The Sun newspaper today.

They show the iconic aircraft on crates at Southampton ready to be shipped out and used as spares.

The MOD sold all 72 of them to the US Marine Corps in a £110 million deal.

Video at link http://www.bfbs.com/news/worldwide/h...-go-54212.html

[Glesgalass]

Well, that's a turn up for the books....has to be a first for everything. Usually it's the US selling stuff to the UK...eg at the start of WWII Lend Lease was set up to sell whatever they could to the UK. It horrified me to find out that the UK was still paying for that right up until early 1970's. I'll bet a lot of Americans didn't know that.....a lot of UK residents didn't either.

Elda

[FriedaKateM]

Of course, what I'm going to comment on....is after all, ancient history!!! When we, my parents, brother & I were overseas at an RAF station for three years, the pilots we had were flying F101 Voodoos (jets). I babysat some of their babies!!! And taught kindergarten for the twin bases. Don't even remember IF there were Harriers around in those cold war years. Also remember that we, i.e., the US of A, have a large quantity/inventory of antique/outdated aircraft, somewhere out in the desert, maybe Arizona....???

I actually DO have a toy AV-8B USAF Harrier jet, only marking on underside says, HIGH SPEED No. 661. What's an old Air Force female brat doing, collecting little planes, cars like a Mustang convertible, & varied Gt. Brit buses, etc.?? Just for the sentimentality of it all. Just meandering through memories....Joan

[miolchu]

Actually this is not a first for Harriers. The U.S. has purchased them from the 1960s and beyond as a ground attack platform for Naval and Marine forces. Before that we bought bombers from Canada in the 1950s and 1960s. In the second world war we bought Merlin Engines then purchased them under license from Rolls Royce. We flew Spitfires in north Africa and in Korea. In the first world war we flew French Spads and British S.E 5s among others.

Hopefully Americans aren't so arrogant to believe that we only have technology to sell to the world and maintain the understanding that there are technologies more advanced than ours that be can purchase. In spite of our New World-centric rhetoric, we know where are roots lie.

[Glesgalass]

Of course, what I'm going to comment on....is after all, ancient history!!! When we, my parents, brother & I were overseas at an RAF station for three years, the pilots we had were flying F101 Voodoos (jets). I babysat some of their babies!!! And taught kindergarten for the twin bases. Don't even remember IF there were Harriers around in those cold war years. Also remember that we, i.e., the US of A, have a large quantity/inventory of antique/outdated aircraft, somewhere out in the desert, maybe Arizona....???

I actually DO have a toy AV-8B USAF Harrier jet, only marking on underside says, HIGH SPEED No. 661. What's an old Air Force female brat doing, collecting little planes, cars like a Mustang convertible, & varied Gt. Brit buses, etc.?? Just for the sentimentality of it all. Just meandering through memories....Joan

Tucson is where there is a huge display of aircraft. There is a road bisects an airfield of sorts/dumping ground. It's on the south side of Tucson. I was totally amazed. My son was living outside Tucson for a while and he drove that route to show me. I would have taken some pictures but he wasn't game to pull over in case we got arrested.

Elda

[1938 Observer]

Well, that's a turn up for the books....has to be a first for everything. Usually it's the US selling stuff to the UK...eg at the start of WWII Lend Lease was set up to sell whatever they could to the UK. It horrified me to find out that the UK was still paying for that right up until early 1970's. I'll bet a lot of Americans didn't know that.....a lot of UK residents didn't either.

Elda

What's a little debt between friends?

Page last updated at 11:56 GMT, Wednesday, 10 May 2006 12:56 UK
By Finlo Rohrer
BBC News Magazine


The UK is about to pay off the last of its World War II loans from the US. But it hasn't always been so fastidious.

On 31 December, the UK will make a payment of about $83m (£45.5m) to the US and so discharge the last of its loans from World War II from its transatlantic ally.

It is hard from a modern viewpoint to appreciate the astronomical costs and economic damage caused by this conflict. In 1945, Britain badly needed money to pay for reconstruction and also to import food for a nation worn down after years of rationing.

The full article is at the link http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4757181.stm

[1938 Observer]

Some information on "Lend Lease"

On 11th March 1941, Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act. The legislation gave President Franklin D. Roosevelt the powers to sell, transfer, exchange, lend equipment to any country to help it defend itself against the Axis powers.

A sum of $50 billion was appropriated by Congress for Lend-Lease. The money went to 38 different countries with Britain receiving over $31 billion. Over the next few years the British government repaid $650 million of this sum.




Here is one small sample


(1) Anthony Eden, Memoirs: The Reckoning (1965)

The ability of the Royal Navy to escort the convoys upon which Britain's life depended was tried to the limit during this summer. Matters were made worse because the Government had not laid down any destroyers during 1938, apparently owing to Treasury pressure for economy which, almost unbelievably, was accepted. The United States Government were now straining neutrality in our favour and Mr. Churchill was continually pressing them to further efforts. He asked, among other things, for the loan of fifty or sixty destroyers, and this scheme was discussed between London and Washington.

The negotiations did not go smoothly, nor did I altogether approve of the details of the final settlement. At one time the suggestion was put forward in Washington that the entire British West Indies should be handed over for the cancellation of our war debts. I thought this less than friendly bargaining. At another, the destroyers were to be exchanged for a public assurance that the British fleet would sail to North American waters if Hitler gained control of the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister rightly protested that such an announcement would have a 'disastrous effect' on British morale. The West Indian bases alone were certainly worth more than fifty or sixty old destroyers.

The sweeping nature of the first American demands caused some delay in the negotiations. Local patriotism in the West Indies was justifiably affronted. By August 14th, however, the agreement was settled, to be ratified at the beginning of the following month. Our desperate straits alone could justify its terms. The age and condition of the fifty destroyers made unexpectedly large demands upon our dockyards. Only nine ships were available before the end of 1940, by which time our own naval construction was catching up on our losses.

Help on a larger scale was soon to be forthcoming. Reelected President on November 5th, Mr. Roosevelt suggested almost at once plans to open 'the Arsenal of Democracy' for Great Britain. In March 1941 the cash-and-carry basis of British purchasing in the United States was abolished, and the principle of lend-lease sanctioned by Congress. Later the same month documents handing over bases in Newfoundland, Bermuda and the West Indies were signed.

The full article, as per the particular site is available at the following link http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWlendlease.htm