Once upon a time, not too long ago, the MOD and RN websites would be full of stories of exercises where a task group went somewhere and the Sea Harriers and Harriers had intercepted other aircraft, attacked targets ashore, flown reece missions, and so on.
The Sea Harrier was retired in 2006. To put that into context, the following was in service in 2006:
Harrier
Jaguar
Nimrod
Tornado F3
HMS Ark Royal
8x Type 42 destroyers
In addition HMS Invincible, HMS Fearless and HMS Intrepid had yet to be scrapped.
The following had yet to come into service:
Typhoon
Sentinel
Type 45 destroyers
HMS Astute
4x C17s
It was that long ago!