Widger,
No offense intended....just saying it like it is.
The Harrier is very limited in the mission it can accomplish when compared to other Attack Aircraft such as the Tornado, A-10, F-16,F-15E, A-6, F/A 18. With JDAM we even can include the B-1, B-2, and B-52 as well.
The Harrier had a loss rate to Manpads/Sam's double that of other similar aircraft during the Gulf Wars.
The USMC Harriers only made token sorties in Afghanistan. That is well documented in Horner's, Glosson's, and other books about those wars.
The Harrier is obsolete and far too expensive when compared to other attack aircraft.
If you limit it to the unique ability it has...vstol or vertical takeoff and landing then it has a place in the inventory. As long as full size carriers and airfields are available the Harrier is excess to need.
I realize the British have a special love of the Harrier but the reality is it is a waste of money especially during a period of tight funding. The RAF would be far better off to buy off the shelf A-10's,F-16's or F-18's for the CAS mission or deploy the Typhoon as soon as possible. It would help if the Typhoon had an operable gun system to go along with it's bomb dropping capability.