The Harrier/Sea Harrier was more STOVL than VTOL..........
What do you mean Blue Vixen will be an improvement? The aircraft that carries it has been axed - although a few will live on for training purposes to teach aircraft handlers. Personally I think this might be the Navy trying to beat the system and keep some in MOD hands.........even in a degraded state, it is better than the scrapyard.
See here for
serious discussion of this topic. Nice pics BTW.