Harrier query!

[merlin101]

Anyone know if when a Harrier GR7/9 is carrying a TIALD pod, a gun pod can be carried on other station? Only pics I've seen are with a strake fitted

Dave

[WolvoWill]

I've only seen them with the strake as well.

Important thing to remember about the Harrier GR5/7/9 gun pods - they're empty! The GR5/7 was intended to have a new 25mm cannon, but development was problematic and in the end cancelled due to a lack of funds to continue. The aircraft was introduced into service with the pods, the intention being to fit the gun into them when it was ready. That never happened due to cancellation, so the Harrier was left gunless.

The pods were/are often carried though for aerodynamic benefit though - they served to improve lift in the hover/transition phase of flight. The fuselage strakes are slightly better aerodynamically (they were designed specifically to improve hover performance, and give more lift in the hover than the gun pods), but the RAF was cash strapped and few strakes were purchased, so carriage of the empty gun pods became the norm from the GR5 days up until the late 1990s.

Only in relatively recent years have Harriers tended to fly with the strakes instead of the gun pods! This change seemingly co-incided with the decision to send the GR7s aboard RN aircraft carriers as part of 'Joint Force Harrier' - I'm not sure why actually. Maybe the marginally improved lift in the hover of a strake equipped jet versus those with the less aerodynamic (and heavier, despite being empty) gun pods gives the jet a better bring back potential in that the jet can be carrying more fuel and/or weapons and still be able to land vertically, as is necessary on the carrier?

I'd guess that the strake is always carried along with TIALD for reasons of weight saving, with benefits to hover performance from being lighter as well as the greater volume of air trapped beneath the strake.