Hmmm, particularly the Harrier gets into full production a bit earlier, and Australia buys a handful for Vietnam, thus proving the worth of the concept. Thus, several Commonwealth countries in need of aircraft for close air support duties buy the Harrier, leading to orders for the Harrier from the Australian, Canadian, Brazilian, Indian and South African Air Forces. The Indian and Australian aircraft are delivered in basic trim, but upgraded to FR.51 spec in the late 1970s and early 1980s, while the later Canadian and Brazilian aircraft come with the upgrades. Most are assembled by their respective nations' aircraft builders.
Canada
The Canadian versions, built by Canadair, join the Canadian Forces' F-4 Phantoms (no F-5s in this case
) and CF-104s, which are replaced by the CF-18 Hornet starting in 1982. The Canadian aircraft took advantage of an agreement for better engine development between Rolls-Royce and Orenda Engines, which resulted in Canadian Harriers using the Orenda-developed Pegasus 14 engine, which necessitated a slightly-bigger fuselage for the engine, but improved its thrust and its carrying capacity and fighting ability. First deployed to Germany just as the last of the CF-104s go home in 1985, the Harriers stayed in Germany until 1991, when they were redeployed home after joining the fight in Desert Storm. The CF's fighter "trio" - the CF-188 Hornet, CF-144 Phantom and CF-155 Harrier - would serve the CF in its entirety from 1983 until the final retirement of the CF-144 in 2006. The Canadian Harriers were deployed to Italy for service over Bosnia in 1998, and were deployed abroad a third time to Afghanistan in 2002 and 2003. As of 2010, the Canadian Forces operates 82 CF-155 Harrier jump jets, along with 98 CF-188 Hornets, and a growing number of CF-156 Northern Eagles (OOC: Canadian F-15Es) in the Forces' Air Command.
Australia
The Australian Hornets arrived just in time to see a little service in Vietnam, where they proved to be highly effective. The Royal Australian Air Force proved to be a major believer in the Harrier, including deploying them from aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne starting in 1974. When Melbourne was decommissioned for the final time in 1982, Australia began the task of buying a new carrier, eventually ordering a modified variant of the American Tarawa class amphibious assault ship, which worked rather nicely for Australia's purposes. The RAN and RAAF upgraded their Harriers to the full FR.51 standard starting in 1984, though financial considerations meant that the project was not finally finished until 1991. The new Australian carrier, HMAS
Australia, was commissioned in 1986, and serves to this day. Its usual complement includes some 16 Harrier FR.51(A) jump jets. HMAS
Australia was deployed to help in Afghanistan, as were Australian F-111 strike aircraft.
India
India first ordered the Harrier in 1973, largely based on Australia's experiences with them in the jungles of Vietnam. India, which has fought multiple wars with Pakistan and had a major counter-insurgency problem in the 1970s and 1980s, pressed their Harrier GR3s into service almost immediately. A number of Sea Harrier FR.51s were purchased for aircraft carrier Viraat, being delivered between 1978 and 1980. First deployed to Sri Lanka in 1987 during Operation Pawan, the Harriers were sent into far more active service after the Indians took a far more active role in Sri Lanka after Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in 1989. India's Harriers were all fitted with the Blue Vixen radar between 1987 and 1991. In the Kargil War, Indian Harrier FR.51s fought successfully, downing six Pakistani Mirage IIIs and F-7 Skybolts, though losing three of their number to Pakistani F-16s. India's Harriers remain in service today, with 166 Harriers serving the Indian Air Force and 52 serving the Indian Navy.
Brazil
One of the last orderers of the Harrier, Brazil ordered the FR.51 Sea Harrier in 1984, after seeing them annihilate the Argentine Air Force during the Falklands Conflict. Brazil's order of 65 was to complement the AMX attack aircraft that first flew in 1984. Brazilian Harriers were almost identical to the Canadian variants, including the Pegasus 14 engines. 52 of Brazil's 65 aircraft were assembled by Embraer, with all delivered between 1985 and 1988. A smaller second order (30 aircraft) was made by Brazil in 2001, in response to the commissioning of aircraft carrier NAeL Sao Paulo, which was the first Brazilian aircraft carrier to carry fighter aircraft. Brazilian pilots originally were not liking the Harrier, but grew to love the aircraft's versaility. Brazil has only lost three Harriers, and as a result Brazil as of 2010 operates 64 Harrier FR.51(BR) and 28 Harrier FA.2(BR) aircraft.
South Africa
Ordered in 1970, South Africa was originally a bigger purchaser of the Harrier than the Australians. The South Africans wanted a close air support fighter first and foremost, and so their version, the Harrier GR.3(SA), was originally not equipped with a radar, but instead had the highly-advanced bombing target equipment from the contemporary Mirage F1AZ. The first GR.3(SA) Harriers were delivered in 1973, and yet again, of the 84 aircraft ordered by the SAAF, 70 were built by Atlas Aerospace. As a Result of South Africa's increasing diplomatic isolation, their Harriers began to be difficult to maintain, promoting Atlas to reverse engineer many of its components, including the Pegasus 6 engine. By 1985, South Africa had the ability to clone the Harrier in most aspects, aside from electronics. South African Harriers by the late 1980s gained most of the highly-sophisticated electronics from its Atlas Cheetah fighter project. The South African fighters saw extensive use in Angola and Namibia, as well as seeing combat in Rhodesia and Mozambique.
As South Africa came out of isolation in the 1990s, the extent of the sophistication of the South African Harriers became very real, with many noting that the radars equipped to the Harrier GR.3(SA) was a highly-sophisticated one, and that the Harriers in SAAF service could (and often did) carry air to air missiles, and stories of SAAF Harriers killing Angolan and Cuban MiG-21s and MiG-23s were quite rampant. The SAAF dropped in size dramatically as apartheid ended, but their Harriers and Cheetahs stayed in service. Being able to get parts again was a big help, though a number of South African harriers had timed out long before the end of apartheid. Despite the retirement of the Cheetah in favor of the Saab Gripen in 2007, the SAAF continues to operate the Harrier, with the 35 aircraft in service carrying the Harrier SA.1 designation.
OOC: How well did I do?
