Originally Posted by
NWSRG
Folks,
Loving this thread, as a mere enthusiast. Brought a question to mind, given the joint RN/RAF deployment of F35s planned.
Back in the Falklands, the RAF deployed Harriers onto the RN carriers...presumably this was something that was trained for in advance? Or was it concieved specifically to tackle the Argentines in 1982?
There had been a few trials run using RAF Harriers on the old
Ark Royal, but there was no plan for RAF Harriers to go to war embarked on carriers - it was an answer to a 'what happens if we start losing Sea Harriers?' question during the early planning stages of Corporate. The answer was to fit the GR3 with AIM-9 and use the GR3 as an attrition reserve. Although the USMC AV-8A/C carrier AIM-9, these had to be integrated onto the RAF Harriers at short notice, a further hint that there was no 'cunning plan' for the Harriers to operate alongside the SHARs.
Training for the GR3s, was carried out in the UK while the Task Force headed south, and the GR3s then flew out to Ascension and thence onto
Atlantic Conveyor. After a 12-day trip on that ship, they flew off to
Hermes, with six being aboard by 20 May 1982. The planning scenario in which the GR3s would be used alongside the SHAR for air defence after losses to the SHAR force reached a certain level didn't transpire, so the GR3s were used in their normal role.