That’s the good news. The bad news is that these admirable little planes won’t be flying for Britain. Navy Times (and others) report that the United States Marine Corps plans to purchase the whole of the United Kingdom’s Harrier force. The spare parts will apparently cost the cousins some $50m and a price for the airframes will, apparently, be agreed soon.
This is good news for the Harriers and for the US Marines who, as one Harrier expert told Navy Times, “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.” Gee, ya think?
Yeah, we think. Granted, the Americans and the UK have different needs and the age when the UK’s armed forces were all-court players ended some time ago. The Harrier sale was just another sign of that. Nevertheless and at the risk of entertaining an argument from authority, one can’t avoid thinking that if the Americans think the Harrier a spirited and useful plane to have then perhaps Britain might have thought a little longer before mothballing the planes (and the ships whence they flew). Cuts are cuts and all very necessary but it’s better to make the right cuts and the case for cancelling the Harrier always seemed rum.
Oddly, TIME’s Mark Thompson appears to think purchasing UK hand-me-downs embarrasses the United States; on the contrary, it’s Britain that, while happy to see friendly men fly the planes again, might wonder if binning the Harrier was really such a clever idea when the planes are evidently still in demand and still credible and versatile weapons. Cheaper than other options too (though of course this may not have helped the Harrier survive, what with it not being shiny and muscular and new and all that.)
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