<Ul> <Li> British Aerospace Harrier II </Li> </Ul> <Li> British Aerospace Harrier II </Li> <P> The Hawker Siddeley Harrier is the first generation - version and is also known as the AV - 8A Harrier; it was used by multiple air forces, including the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the United States Marine Corps (USMC). The Sea Harrier is a naval strike / air defence fighter derived from the Hawker Siddeley Harrier; it was operated by both the Royal Navy and the Indian Navy . During the 1980s, a second generation Harrier emerged; manufactured in the United States as the AV - 8B and in Britain as the British Aerospace Harrier II respectively . By the start of the 21st century, the majority of the first generation Harriers had been withdrawn, many operators having chosen to procure the second generation as a replacement . In the long term, several operators have announced their intention to supplement or replace their Harrier fleets with the STOVL variant of the F - 35 Lightning II, designated as the F - 35B . </P> <P> Throughout the 1950s, particularly in the years following the Korean War, a number of aircraft companies in both Europe and America separately decided to investigate the prospective capabilities and viability of vertical take - off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, which would eliminate the requirement for vulnerable runways by taking off and landing vertically as opposed to the conventional horizontal approach . In addition to military applications, the prospect of applying such technology to commercial airliners was also viewed with considerable interest by the mid 1950s, thus the value of developing viable vertical take - off systems was judged to be substantial . However, even during this era, few companies had envisioned that a VTOL aircraft would also be realistically compatible with the characteristics of high performance military aircraft . </P>

When did the harrier go out of service