Originally Posted by
SRENNAPS
I am not an air warfare specialist, but could somebody tell me why the latest Harrier GR7 cannot strafe???? It is suppose to be a Ground Attack Aircraft. Why was it not fitted with a bloody big gun that would scare the crap out of anybody on the ground that was on the receiving end of it? A big cannon strafing the battlefield will surly have a huge psychological effect on the enemy.
As a humble engineer who worked at Wittering a while back, I recall that the reason that the Harrier gun cannot be used is that they could not overcome the problems of links or empty cases damaging the tailplane.
However, it still needs the gun pods (or strakes) in order to help it hover...