Joint Force Harrier, initially known as Joint Force 2000 and towards the end of its life as Joint Strike Wing, was the British military formation which controlled the
British Aerospace Harrier II
The British Aerospace Harrier II is a second-generation vertical/short takeoff and landing (V/STOL) jet aircraft used previously by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and, between 2006 and 2010, the Royal Navy (RN). The aircraft was the latest developm ...
and
British Aerospace Sea Harrier
The British Aerospace Sea Harrier is a naval short take-off and vertical landing/ vertical take-off and landing jet fighter, reconnaissance and attack aircraft. It is the second member of the Harrier family developed. It first entered servi ...
aircraft of the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) a ...
and
Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...
between 2000 and 2011. It was subordinate to
RAF Air Command
Air Command is the only Command currently active in the Royal Air Force. It was formed by the merger of Royal Air Force Strike and Personnel and Training commands on 1 April 2007, and has its headquarters at RAF High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.
...
.
Upon its disbandment there were two operational Joint Strike Wing squadrons, one Fleet Air Arm and one Royal Air Force, plus an RAF
Operational Conversion Unit.
History
Joint Force Harrier (JFH) was established on 1 April 2000 in response to the proposal brought by the British Government as part of
Strategic Defence Review
The Strategic Defence Review (SDR) was a British policy document produced in July 1998 by the Labour Government that had gained power a year previously. Then Secretary of State for Defence, George Robertson, set out the initial defence policy of ...
. Originally called Joint Force 2000, it combined the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
's two
Sea Harrier FA2
The British Aerospace Sea Harrier is a naval short take-off and vertical landing/ vertical take-off and landing jet fighter, reconnaissance and attack aircraft. It is the second member of the Harrier family developed. It first entered servic ...
squadrons with the RAF's four
Harrier GR7/7A squadrons under a single command structure within
RAF Strike Command
The Royal Air Force's Strike Command was the military formation which controlled the majority of the United Kingdom's bomber and fighter aircraft from 1968 until 2007 when it merged with Personnel and Training Command to form the single Air ...
. This force was to be deployable from both s,
Royal Air Force station
The Royal Air Force (RAF) operates several stations throughout the United Kingdom and overseas. This includes front-line and training air bases, support, administrative and training stations with no flying activity, unmanned airfields used f ...
s and deployed
air base
An air base (sometimes referred to as a military air base, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base) is an aerodrome used as a military base by a military force for the operation ...
s.
The Royal Navy's contribution to the force was the
Sea Harrier previously part of Naval Air Command. .
In 2006,
No. 3 Squadron RAF converted to the
Eurofighter Typhoon
The Eurofighter Typhoon is a European multinational twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter. The Typhoon was designed originally as an air-superiority fighter and is manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo ...
. In the same year, the Sea Harrier was retired and
800 Naval Air Squadron
800 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm carrier-based squadron formed on 3 April 1933 by amalgamating No's 402 and 404 (Fleet Fighter) Flights.
History 1930s
The squadron was first equipped with nine single-seat Hawker Nimrod fighter ...
re-equipped with former 3 Squadron Harrier GR7 and GR9 aircraft. At the same time, the size of operational squadrons reduced from 12 aircraft to nine. The Naval Air Squadron operated but did not own the aircraft.
801 Naval Air Squadron was also intended to reform with Harrier GR7/9s in 2007. However, on 9 March 2007, the
Naval Strike Wing (NSW) was formed. This saw elements of both Fleet Air Arm squadrons amalgamate into a single operational squadron for deployment either on land (such as Afghanistan) or aboard the Royal Navy's two aircraft carriers ( and ). On 1 April 2010, NSW reverted to the identity of 800 Naval Air Squadron.
On 31 March 2010, the force was reduced by one squadron with the disbandment of
No. 20 Squadron RAF, the Harrier
Operational Conversion Unit (OCU). No. 4 Squadron also disbanded and reformed as No. 4 (Reserve) Squadron at
RAF Wittering
Royal Air Force Wittering or more simply RAF Wittering is a Royal Air Force station within the unitary authority area of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire and the unitary authority area of North Northamptonshire. Although Stamford in Lincolnshire i ...
, taking over as the OCU.
At the same time, Joint Force Harrier was renamed Joint Strike Wing and all remaining Harrier GR7 aircraft were retired. Until 2010, it was intended that the Harrier GR9 fleet would continue in service until replaced by 138
STOVL
A short take-off and vertical landing aircraft (STOVL aircraft) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is able to take off from a short runway (or take off vertically if it does not have a heavy payload) and land vertically (i.e. with no runway). The ...
-capable
F-35B Lightning II
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. It is also able to provide elec ...
aircraft around 2018.
However, on 19 October 2010, as part of the UK government's
Strategic Defence and Security Review, it was announced that the Harrier out-of-service date was to be brought forward to April 2011.
HMS ''Ark Royal'', the last of the ''Invincible''-class carriers, launched her final fixed wing aircraft on 24 November 2010 when the four embarked Harrier GR9s left the ship to return to land. On 15 December 2010, a 16 aircraft flypast from
RAF Cottesmore marked the final operational flights of British Harriers. 1(F) Squadron, 4(R) Squadron and 800 NAS were disbanded on 28 January 2011.
Component units
Royal Air Force
*
No. 1 Squadron RAF
Number 1 Squadron, also known as No. 1 (Fighter) Squadron, is a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was the first squadron to fly a VTOL aircraft. It currently operates Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft from RAF Lossiemouth.
The squadron motto, ...
(2000–2011)
*
No. 3 Squadron RAF (2000–2006)
*
No. 4(R) Squadron RAF (2000–2011)
*
No. 20(R) Squadron RAF (2000–2010)
Fleet Air Arm
*
800 Naval Air Squadron
800 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm carrier-based squadron formed on 3 April 1933 by amalgamating No's 402 and 404 (Fleet Fighter) Flights.
History 1930s
The squadron was first equipped with nine single-seat Hawker Nimrod fighter ...
(2000–2006 and 2010–2011)
*
801 Naval Air Squadron (2000–2006)
*
Naval Strike Wing (2007–2010)
References
External links
{{Royal Air Force
Military units and formations of the Royal Air Force
British military aviation
Joint military units and formations of the United Kingdom