Original subtitles

♪ ♪

Narrator: They call it the jump jet.

Capt. Cummins: It was like riding a dragon.

Narrator: The harrier is designed to make runways obsolete.

Lon: The harrier is right on the leading edge

Of military technology.

Narrator: Sleek, powerful, and versatile,

It has the grace of a chopper...

Lt. Col. Herman: You're able to stop like a hummingbird

And then fly like a rocket ship at the same time.

Narrator: ...And the knock-out punch of a fighter jet.

Lt. Cdr. Morgan: It came off my wing and just vaporized the aircraft.

Narrator: It's an aircraft that sparked controversy

On both sides of the atlantic...

Roger: It came under very intense scrutiny

About whether this was a viable or a safe program.

Narrator: ...And pushed the limits of aviation technology.

[explosion]

♪ ♪

[♪ theme music ♪]

[artillery fire]

♪ ♪

Narrator: June 2014. Iraq.

The islamic state claims authority

Over much of the country.

Isis militants wage a guerrilla-style war,

Taking iraqi civilians as prisoners in their own homes.

Iraqi forces struggle to fight back, but make little progress

Against isis fighters.

The united states decides to intervene.

President obama authorizes u.S. Airstrikes

To support troops on the ground.

The u.S. Marines send some of their most experienced pilots

To the fight,

Along with their go-to aircraft for close air support.

♪ ♪

The harrier: A marvel of modern engineering.

The world's most famous vertical takeoff and landing jet.

Capt. Cummins: This here is the av-8b harrier ii.

It's the marine corps's go-to aircraft for ground attack

And close air support missions.

♪ ♪

Narrator: The harrier is only forty-seven feet long.

Empty, it weighs just 15,000 pounds --

More than a chopper, but less than half the weight

Of other modern jet fighters.

♪ ♪

23,000 pounds of thrust let the harrier hover like

A helicopter, or blast forward at near-supersonic speeds.

Capt. Cummins: On my first flight my instructor told me

It was going to be like riding a dragon.

He definitely was telling the truth.

Narrator: Thirteen thousand pounds of weapons

Give harrier pilots an option for any kind of fight.

Capt. Cummins: The harrier's capable of carrying

A wide variety of weapons, everything from

Air-to-air missiles, like the aim-9 sidewinder,

Both precision-guided and conventional bombs,

As well as a 25mm gun

That's capable of shooting up to 3,600 rounds per minute.

[artillery fire]

Capt. Cummins: When we get there we need to be ready

To hit hard and accomplish our mission.

♪ ♪

Narrator: To fight isis, the marine corps

Positions its harriers in the persian gulf,

Just a short flight from iraq's most troubled spots.

Their mission: To locate and suppress hostile isis forces.

Capt. Wickersham: Iraq can be a very challenging battlefield

To work with.

Narrator: Captain tristan wickersham was a harrier pilot

With the 15th marine expeditionary unit in iraq.

♪ ♪

Capt. Wickersham: You never know

Where these guys are going to pop up.

You can have some blocks that are totally civilian population

And you can have another block where it's clearly a guy

Digging an ied.

Narrator: A changing battlefield calls for a fast response.

That's where the harriers come in.

Capt. Wickersham: Our ability to base off of

The amphibious carrier puts us much closer

Than a lot of the actual established airfields;

Allows us to get on station fairly quickly.

♪ ♪

Narrator: Wickersham and his wingman

Prepare their harriers for flight.

Their wasp-class carrier is one of the navy's smallest,

Almost 250 feet shorter than a conventional carrier.

Capt. Wickersham: The small deck carriers

Are designed around the marine expeditionary unit.

They're big enough for a harrier,

But there's nothing unnecessary on there.

It's set up for harriers to take off.

♪ ♪

Narrator: Most aircraft must catapult to launch

From the deck of their ship.

For the harrier, no catapult required.

Capt. Cummins: Short takeoffs give the marines ability

To be airborne in a moment's notice, and that's made possible

By these four exhaust nozzles right here.

♪ ♪

Narrator: The four nozzles steer the engine's exhaust.

Facing downwards, this results in vertical lift.

When the nozzles rotate back,

They propel the aircraft forward.

Capt. Wickersham: We'll get the ship moving

As fast as it possibly can, which increases the wind

Over the deck, which, just every little bit of lift

As the wind goes over the wings helps.

Capt. Wickersham: We back up all the way to the back,

Because at that point we'll have two fuel tanks,

Two bombs and a targeting pod, plus a full load of gas,

And that's a pretty significant amount of weight

For something trying to take off in 750 feet.

Capt. Wickersham: It takes every bit of power

That the engine has to get off the deck.

We will basically run the engine all the way up,

Try and get as much thrust out of it as possible,

Let the brakes go,

And then as soon as we get to the edge of the deck

We use those four nozzles, and that's what pops us

Into the air, that's what allows us to have

That just incredibly short takeoff.

Narrator: In iraq, captain wickersham and his wingman

Speed away from the ship.

Once in flight, their surveillance mission

Turns into something more.

Capt. Wickersham: As we checked in on station

They told us they had some coalition forces

Taking fire up to the north

And directed us to head that way to support that.

Narrator: Wickersham and his wingman race over iraq

At six hundred fifty miles an hour,

Preparing mentally for what they might find.

Capt. Wickersham: I'm getting myself in my,

The combat mindset at that point

And we're starting to go through all our pre-combat checks,

Making sure the weapons are good,

Making sure that the aircraft is good.

Narrator: As the harriers fly, the ground controller

Radios in more detail.

The firefight is in a residential neighborhood.

Isis militants hole up in an abandoned building,

Hoping to make it a stronghold to take over the neighborhood.

Capt. Wickersham: They're setting up their weapons

In this courtyard, launching a few projectiles

At the friendlies and running back in the house

To hide themselves. They were pretty well entrenched.

Narrator: Each harrier carries two 500-lb. Bombs.

Attacking at close range will be risky.

The presence of civilians is likely, and

Isis forces have come prepared for any incoming aircraft.

Capt. Wickersham: We knew that they had light machine guns,

Heavy machine guns, and up to some shoulder-mounted

Surface-to-air type missiles,

And that's what we were mainly concerned with.

Narrator: The harriers quickly close in on their target.

Down below, isis fighters seem to have the upper hand.

Capt. Wickersham: As I'm ingressing to the target,

I can see the house, I can see the courtyard

Attached to the house there, it's a walled-off courtyard,

And that's where they're kind of coming out of the house,

Setting up their indirect fire weapons in that courtyard,

Launching off a few projectiles,

And then running back into the house

In order to hide themselves again.

Narrator: Coalition forces are running out of time.

If isis gets control of the neighborhood,

Iraqi civilians face certain death.

♪ ♪

Over iraq, captain tristan wickersham and his harrier

Approach an isis firefight.

They radio down to the controller on the ground.

Capt. Wickersham: He is the one with the greatest situational awareness of what's

Going on, so he's passing you the enemy locations.

Narrator: Wickersham plugs the insurgents' coordinates

Into his aircraft's computer. The target appears on screen.

Capt. Wickersham: First thing that is running through your head

Is, does this look like what they described to me?

Is this the right thing? You want to make 100% sure

Before you drop that bomb

That that is going to the absolutely right place.

Narrator: The harriers dive in fast, and drop their payload.

Capt. Wickersham: It takes about a second or so

For that bomb to release from the jet.

You're just sitting there watching the target

And just pretty much saying to yourself over and over again,

I hope this things hits fast.

Narrator: Thirty seconds later...

[explosion]

...A direct hit.

♪ ♪

Within minutes, coalition forces move in to secure the area.

Capt. Wickersham: It's a great feeling

Knowing that these guys were relying on you for support

To get them out of a potentially sticky situation,

And we're in position to provide that support

And potentially save a few lives.

Narrator: The harriers turn back to the ship.

But their mission is far from over.

Capt. Wickersham: Surprisingly enough, landing at the boat

Is usually the most dangerous phase of any mission.

Narrator: To land, the pilot must slow his speed

To match the speed of the carrier.

He rotates the nozzles down, and descends in a slow hover.

Capt. Wickersham: You've got winds

Which are hitting the side of the ship and bouncing over,

Kind of pushing your nose around, and

You're just basically balancing on this fountain of air

Coming out of the bottom of the jet.

Capt. Wickersham: Trying to hover a harrier

Is kind of like trying to balance an elephant

On the head of a pin.

Narrator: Jet-powered hovering -- a futuristic technique

Mastered on the modern battlefield

But forged over sixty years ago.

♪ ♪

1958. The cold war is in full effect.

The soviet union has taken over much of eastern europe.

Nato believes the soviets want to conquer

The rest of the world too.

Roger: The soviet union positioned large tank formations

And thousands of aircraft very close to the border

Of nato-held western europe.

Narrator: Roger connor is a curator

In the national air and space museum's aeronautics department.

Roger: This meant that the nato response had to be very fast.

There would very little warning in the event of an attack.

Narrator: Nato has the fastest airplanes in the world.

Their achilles heel is their size.

Roger: As jet engine technology matured, nato aircraft

Became bigger, they carried larger payloads

And they were faster,

And they all required very long runways from which to operate.

Narrator: These long runways and large jets

Make vulnerable targets.

Roger: The soviets were seen as targeting these airfields

In a potential first strike.

So there was an urgent need to be able to disperse aircraft

Outside of those concentrated airbases.

For a combat aircraft to be truly effective,

They had to be able to operate from anywhere.

The key to that was vertical flight.

Narrator: Vertical flight.

A concept proven with helicopters

But unheard of for fixed-wing jets.

It's an idea that just might give nato forces the edge.

Lon: The big advantage of a vertical and short takeoff

And landing fighter aircraft is that it can take off

From many different kinds of short airfields.

Narrator: Lon nordeen is a military historian

And author on the harrier.

Lon: They can take off from the main base

And go to other sites where the adversary

Probably would not target those places.

Narrator: Nato countries enlist their best and brightest

To design the impossible: A jet aircraft

That doesn't need a runway.

Lon: Several companies in britain, France, germany

And other places, including the united states,

Invested money and developed concepts

For this kind of new fighter.

The feeling was the technology in aerospace had developed

At that time to the point where we could try this concept

And it might become successful.

Roger: Vertical and short takeoff and landing aircraft

Were definitely at the exotic end of the spectrum,

So this was something that really never been done before.

It was not obvious how to do it effectively.

♪ ♪

Narrator: The united states starts out in the lead.

Propeller-driven aircraft like the convair xfy,

The lockheed xfv, and the jet-powered ryan x-13

Turn conventional designs on their head,

Or, rather, their tails.

Roger: The simplest approach to a vertical takeoff and landing

Was the tail sitter.

These aircraft would take off vertically,

And then pitch over and fly horizontally.

Narrator: The takeoffs are the easy part.

It's the vertical landing that's a challenge.

Roger: It required the pilot to literally back down

Into a landing position by looking over their shoulder.

These types of tail sitting aircraft were really impractical

Right from the outset.

♪ ♪

Narrator: Another engineering brainstorm:

Hurling planes into the sky.

Roger: This meant strapping a very large rocket booster

To a conventional jet fighter

And basically shooting the aircraft off of a ramp

On the back of a truck.

If the rocket wasn't positioned just perfectly,

The aircraft could go violently out of control

And crash immediately after takeoff.

Narrator: Across the pond, america's allies experiment

With their own designs.

Roger: The british, french and germans

Also had very vigorous vertical and short

Takeoff and landing programs through the 1950's and 60's.

Narrator: Prototypes include aircraft that use different engines

For vertical and horizontal flight.

More engines mean more power.

But the added weight does more harm than good.

Lon: You carry that weight around and you only use it

During the vertical and the landing phase.

You're dragging around a lot of weight that's not used.

♪ ♪

Narrator: It looks like an impossible code to crack:

How to construct a vertical airplane with only one engine.

Roger: One of the great aeronautical achievements of the 1950's

Was going to be who could crack the problem

Of an effective vertical and short

Takeoff and landing aircraft.

Narrator: In 1959, engine manufacturer bristol siddeley

Believes they have the solution: A turbofan turbine engine

Called the pegasus.

Most jets push exhaust out of just one nozzle.

The pegasus uses four.

The theory: That the four nozzles can be guided by

The pilot, forcing the aircraft forward, or straight up.

Roger: One of the most difficult problems facing

A vertical and short takeoff and landing aircraft

Is the transition.

Any sort of little hiccup with the functioning of those nozzles

Could cause the aircraft to make a hard landing or even crash.

Narrator: The technology soon attracts the interest

Of british aviation giant hawker.

Hawker comes up with a bold plan: Build a new jet fighter

Around the pegasus engine.

♪ ♪

The aircraft they come up with: The p.1127.

In 1961, it makes its first attempt

At going from vertical to horizontal flight.

♪ ♪

The plane lifts off into a hover.

Slowly it begins forward flight.

It's a huge feat for bristol siddeley.

But the technology still has a long way to go.

Roger: The p.1127 was a very ambitious program.

There was not always a lot of confidence

That it was going to succeed.

♪ ♪

Narrator: France feels the cold war pressure too.

Engineers at dassault develop a rival vertical takeoff jet:

The balzac v.

Roger: Their aerospace program was pursuing

Their own separate line of development

Even as the united states, germany and britain

Were beginning to partner on their own configuration.

Narrator: The balzac v sports nine engines

And flies at almost 700 miles per hour.

In great britain, hawker engineers note

The balzac's progress.

It appears the french are a worthy rival.

♪ ♪

June 20th, 1963. The paris international airshow.

The p.1127 and french balzac get ready to go head to head.

Roger: The paris airshow was the crème de la crème

Of aeronautical expositions, and it was the place

That both the nato allies and the warsaw pact nations

Tended to try to intimidate each other

With their aerospace technology.

Lon: Think about french pride and british pride.

Here you are at the paris airshow,

And there was a lot of public attention

For short takeoff and landing fighters.

♪ ♪

Narrator: The balzac v takes to the air first.

It lifts into a hover and takes off at high speed into flight.

It caps its performance with a vertical landing.

♪ ♪

Next: The p.1127.

It takes off, showing the large crowd

The power of the pegasus engine.

But as the p.1127 comes in for the landing,

It's clear something is wrong.

♪ ♪

June 20th, 1963. The paris airshow.

Great britain's new p.1127 vertical takeoff jet

Crashes hard onto the ground below.

♪ ♪

The problem: A jam in the engine nozzle,

Caused by a tiny speck of dirt.

The pilot survives.

Miraculously, so does the aircraft's reputation.

Engineers believe its single-engine design

Beats the more complicated balzac v.

Roger: The balzac with nine engines was an impressive aircraft,

But operationally speaking just not practical at all.

♪ ♪

Even with the accident in paris, the p.1127

Still offered the best opportunity

For a practical operational vertical and short

Takeoff and landing aircraft.

♪ ♪

Narrator: Great britain, the united states,

And west germany agree: The p.1127 is just what they need

To defend against the soviet attack.

Roger: Those nations really saw that the capabilities

That they had been working on for a long time

Were now being finally realized in this british aircraft.

Narrator: The three nations team up to invest in

What they call the hawker kestrel,

A militarized version of the p.1127.

♪ ♪

Roger: The tripartite evaluation program subjected the kestrel

To all sorts of environmental operating conditions,

So operating in wet weather,

Operating from unimproved airstrips,

So little more than cow pastures in some cases.

Lon: 10 pilots flew over 1,300 sorties

During a year of testing.

It proved that this kestrel program fulfilled the goals

Of the nato requirement.

Narrator: The british air force is especially hot for the kestrel.

It orders sixty right away,

And renames the new jets the harrier,

After a low-flying bird of prey.

Across the atlantic, the united states marine corps

Also sees possibilities for the new aircraft.

They name their version the av-8a harrier.

Lon: The marine corps wanted to replace the a-4 skyhawk

Because you could not fly an a-4 skyhawk

From an amphibious assault ship.

Roger: They realized that here was an aircraft

That had essentially the same capability as the a-4

But which could be dispersed out into the field

For its close air support mission.

♪ ♪

Narrator: At first, the new aircraft looks promising.

But it isn't long before things start going wrong.

♪ ♪

[explosion]

Roger: It was a difficult aircraft to train for.

They were experiencing some mechanical difficulties with it,

And this led to a much higher loss rate

Than they would have desired.

[explosion]

Narrator: During its first ten years of service,

The harrier claims the lives of 17 u.S. Pilots,

Cursing it with the reputation of a widow-maker.

Roger: When the marine av-8a began having a series of accidents,

It came under very intense scrutiny

About whether this was a viable or a safe program

For the marines to continue to develop.

♪ ♪

Narrator: While the pentagon questions the harrier's worth,

Great britain prepares to give it the ultimate test: Battle.

♪ ♪

April 1982. The falkland islands.

Nearly two hundred and twenty years of territorial disputes

Finally come to a head.

Argentinian president leopoldo galtieri

Invades the small british island, claiming it for his own.

8,000 miles away, britain mobilizes its fleet of carriers.

On deck, a brand-new acquisition: The sea harrier,

Made especially for the royal navy.

British pilots know going in that the argentinian air force

Will be tough opponents.

Lt. Cdr. Morgan: The argentines could field about 180 fast jet aircraft

Against our twenty-one sea harriers.

Narrator: Lieutenant commander david morgan was a harrier pilot

During the falklands war.

Lt. Cdr. Morgan: The argentines had the mirage 3,

Which had twice the speed of the sea harrier,

Had 50% height advantage and a missile

With a head-on shot twice as long as the sidewinders

That we were carrying.

They also had a large number of a-4 skyhawk fighter bombers.

We knew we were going to have a hard job.

Roger: The harrier was still very much an unknown quantity.

These aircraft had never been tested in combat,

And it was kind of a big mystery if all the hype

Surrounding their maneuverability and

Their vertical takeoff and landing capabilities,

Whether that was just a showpiece

Or if that was actually a real combat capability.

Narrator: June 8th. The hms hermes, ten weeks into the war.

Morgan and his wingman take off and head for the islands.

Lt. Cdr. Morgan: As we got close I called up the two aircraft

From 801 squadron that we were relieving

And I said, "okay, where's the action?"

They said, "you'll see when you get closer."

♪ ♪

Narrator: Morgan and his wingman arrive to find

A horrifying scene.

Two british ships have been attacked by argentine skyhawks.

[explosion]

♪ ♪

Morgan's first thought: That the argentines will be back

To finish the job.

Lt. Cdr. Morgan: All I could do is just keep my eyes open,

Keep scanning and try and make sure that

No other waves of attacking aircraft got through.

Narrator: The harriers keep watch for forty long minutes.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, morgan spots trouble.

Lt. Cdr. Morgan: To my absolute horror saw about half a mile to the east

A line of four aircraft, obviously running in to attack.

The only imperative now is to try

To shoot down those aircraft.

Narrator: Morgan has just seconds to react.

Years of training allow muscle memory to kick in fast.

Lt. Cdr. Morgan: Locked the missile onto him.

The missile locked straight away, fired it immediately,

And it came off my port wing

And went straight up the guy's jet pipe

And just vaporized the aircraft.

Narrator: That's one skyhawk down.

But there's three more to go.

Lt. Cdr. Morgan: As I rolled the aircraft back upright after the first missile

Shot, I was pointing directly at him. Locked my second missile.

The missile followed him and took him out at 90 degrees.

[explosion]

Narrator: There's two aircraft left, but morgan

Is out of missiles.

He turns to climb and hopes that his wingman has his back.

Lt. Cdr. Morgan: I looked back over my shoulder in the climb

And saw my wingman fire a missile.

A few seconds later there was a massive explosion

As it hit the skyhawk.

[explosion]

♪ ♪

Narrator: The last skyhawk sees the writing on the wall.

When the harriers look around, he's nowhere to be found.

Less than two hours after takeoff,

The harriers are back on their carrier

With three kills under their belt.

Lt. Cdr. Morgan: By the time the conflict was over

The whole world thought the sea harrier was great.

In fact, the argentine started referring to us

As the muerte negra, the black death.

And if they knew sea harriers were in the area

They would quite often turn the raids back.

Narrator: The sea harrier has a staggering success rate,

Downing twenty enemy aircraft with no air-to-air losses.

The harrier proves itself for the british.

In the u.S. It still has to fight for survival.

The department of defense

Continues to view the harrier as a costly experiment.

The u.S. Navy pushes to end the program.

They want a fixed-wing fighter already in development:

The f-18.

Lon: Since the funding comes through the navy

For the marine corps, the f-18 and the harrier

Were all in competition.

Narrator: Time is up for the marines.

If they can't prove the harrier is worth the money,

The program will be dead

Before the u.S. Harriers ever see combat.

♪ ♪

The marine corps's new harrier fights for survival.

Many in the pentagon would rather focus on acquiring f-18s.

The marines push back, hard.

Lon: Because of the marine corps relationship with congress,

They were able to state why they needed this,

And they showed through the falklands and other testing

That the harrier did things that an f-18 could not do.

Narrator: Congress approves both the f-18

And an upgraded harrier called the av-8b.

The harrier has larger wings, greater weapons payload,

And state-of-the-art avionics.

In 1984, it finally joins the ranks of the marines.

♪ ♪

Only the most qualified pilots get a chance to fly the new jet.

Roger: One outcome from the accidents on the av-8a

Was that the marines realized that you could not have

Novice pilots flying the aircraft,

That you needed to have some experience.

Narrator: Training for a harrier isn't like most jets.

Not every flight school teaches you to hover.

Capt. Cummins: It takes a lot of training.

So after initial flight training the harrier pilots

Go through another year of additional training

Specifically on the harrier

Where you learn to master the vertical regime of flight.

Capt. Wickersham: It's sort of an unnatural thing to be doing

And can definitely be a little bit stressful,

And that's why a lot of times when you're training

They tell you to wiggle your fingers, wiggle your toes,

Just relax, and the more relaxed you make yourself,

Actually the easier it is,

Because you don't tend to over-exaggerate your movements

Or anything like that.

♪ ♪

Narrator: Pilots undergo heavy evaluations and field testing,

Mastering the ins and outs of fixed-wing vertical flight.

Capt. Cummins: Vertical take offs and landings

Can be extremely hard to master as a pilot.

It's definitely a balancing act.

♪ ♪

Narrator: The new harriers may be the platform

The marine corps has long hoped for.

To know for certain, they must test it in combat.

♪ ♪

January 1991. Saudi arabia.

The united states and its allies vow to liberate kuwait

From saddam hussein's invading forces.

The u.S. Marines station harrier squadrons

At king abdulaziz air base, just ninety miles

From the kuwait border.

Lt. Col. Herman: King abdulaziz air base was not an ideal place

For any tactical aviation.

Narrator: Lieutenant colonel ted herman was a harrier pilot

And commanding officer during operation desert storm.

♪ ♪

Lt. Col. Herman: The runway was run down.

It was kind of a loose asphalt that was coming apart.

But we were able to build a fully operational base

For airplanes that didn't need long runways.

Lt. Col. Herman: We had an area where we could build

Our maintenance tents right next to the runway,

We could park the aircraft right next to the runway and

Arm them and make our turnaround times no more than, say,

20 minutes to touch down, refuel, rearm, and take off.

♪ ♪

Narrator: The harriers are closest to the front lines,

Making them the obvious choice to make a first attack.

At least, that's the way the marines see it.

Lt. Col. Herman: The mindset of the marine corps

For the harriers going into desert storm

Was that we were at a point where we were viable aircraft.

Narrator: Air commanders see things differently.

They plan to make the initial attack

With conventional aircraft.

Lt. Col. Herman: The squadron was not real happy

About not being included in the prime part of the war.

♪ ♪

Narrator: January 17th. Just hours into the war,

A team of marines is cornered by an iraqi artillery battery.

The trapped marines are just 90 miles

From the sidelined harriers.

It's the chance the harriers have been waiting for.

Finally, commanders give av-8b pilots the green light.

♪ ♪

Within minutes, lieutenant colonel herman

And three other harriers are airborne.

Lt. Col. Herman: There's two emotions that go through your mind

When you realize that now suddenly the balloon is up

And you're part of it.

It's where you've always wanted to be,

And it's where you don't want to be.

Narrator: Getting close to the marines won't be easy.

The iraqi forces are armed with state-of-the-art weapons.

Lt. Col. Herman: We expected quite a bit of activity against us

Going in that area.

♪ ♪

Narrator: Ten thousand feet above iraq,

Herman scans the ground below.

He spots a cluster of six iraqi artillery emplacements,

Firing heavily on marines on the ground.

Lt. Col. Herman: They were pretty obvious.

First off, the sand in the desert was disturbed quite a bit

Every time they fired. You'd see a big puff of dirt.

Narrator: To ensure bombing accuracy, the harriers

Must dive right through the enemy's line of fire.

Lt. Col. Herman: Ground fire would reach up to about 3,000 feet.

Surface-to-air missiles would reach somewhere

In the neighborhood of 15,000 feet.

By the time we got the weapon off

We'd be somewhere down in the three-to-4,000-foot area there.

♪ ♪

Narrator: Each second of delay is life or death

To marines on the ground.

Herman takes one last look

And starts a ten-thousand foot dive.

Lt. Col. Herman: We deliver our weapons

Somewhere in the neighborhood of 475 miles an hour

To 525 miles an hour, and that's about the speed of

A .45 caliber bullet.

♪ ♪

Narrator: The iraqis turn their fire upwards,

Turning their attention from marines on the ground

To marines in the air.

Lt. Col. Herman: The iraqi procedure for their troops

Was for them to point their weapons at the sky

And just start putting a barrage of 7.62 ammunition

Up into the air, so there'd be a cloud

Of .30 caliber ammo coming up at you.

♪ ♪

Narrator: Herman releases his weapons.

Four 1,000-pound bombs fly off the rails.

He quickly pulls out of the dive.

The quiet on the ground tells herman

That the bombs have hit their target.

The surrounded marines are safe.

Fifteen minutes later, the harriers are back on base.

Lt. Col. Herman: After that first mission

They realized just how effective we could be,

And we got tasked to fly every day from then on.

♪ ♪

Narrator: U.S. General norman schwarzkopf names the av-8b

One of the coalition's most important weapons.

Roger: The marine corps experience in desert storm

Really did validate that this was

An effective close-air support strike aircraft

For the marine infantrymen on the front lines.

♪ ♪

Narrator: The marines are riding high.

They ask boeing to give the harrier another capability:

To attack at night.

The night attack harrier comes with night vision goggles,

An improved digital cockpit display,

And a forward-looking infrared system.

The british order the upgraded harriers for themselves,

And just in time.

♪ ♪

Narrator: 2008. Helmand province. Afghanistan.

British forces fight taliban insurgents.

Capt. Ward: The enemy forces aren't gonna make it easy for you.

They're gonna do things at the most inopportune times.

Narrator: Captain kris ward was a harrier pilot

With the royal navy for ten years.

Capt. Ward: We had to make sure that friendly forces

Were protected, and that's why we worked 24 hours a day,

Day and night.

Narrator: Kandahar air force base. Afghanistan.

Captain ward and his wingman head out to a remote part

Of the province.

Their mission: To check up on a team of british soldiers.

Capt. Ward: They weren't expecting trouble,

But they wanted top cover aircraft in the overhead,

Armed aircraft ready to engage should anything happen.

♪ ♪

Narrator: Twenty minutes into their patrol,

Soldiers below report suspicious activity.

They believe the taliban is preparing to attack.

Capt. Ward: The patrol clearly knew something was up ahead,

But they didn't know what.

They needed us to be able to establish

Exactly what the threat was to them.

♪ ♪

Narrator: Ward points his targeting pod at the ground.

He sees that the soldiers' fears are valid.

Capt. Ward: There were several people moving around,

All focusing their attention out to the west,

Which was where the friendly forces patrol

Was static at this time.

From our position it's very clear

That the coalition forces are about to walk

Straight into an ambush.

Narrator: Ward has to act fast.

The taliban are just 1,500 feet from the british soldiers.

Trying to deliver a bomb so close is tricky,

Especially at night.

The pilots turn to the harrier's new nighttime capabilities

To get it right.

Capt. Ward: The harrier is one of the most capable

Night platforms in the world.

I can't go into specifics on the exact resolutions

Of what we can see at night, but suffice it to say that

You can see very clearly people moving from 20,000 feet,

Five miles away.

Narrator: Ward and his wingman decide to make what they call

A cooperative attack.

Capt. Ward: We were prepared, and we were ready to drop,

And we had discussed the angle of attack that we were going do.

Narrator: To work, the timing must be perfect.

And they have to wait for the enemy to make the first move.

Capt. Ward: At that point they haven't been fired on.

We can't drop our stores until they've actually been fired on,

Because there is no threat to them or direct threat of life

At that stage. That would be an offensive drop,

Which would be against the rules of engagement.

Narrator: The taliban gets ready to attack the soldiers.

Up above, the harriers have the taliban in their sights.

The only question: Whose weapon will get there first?

♪ ♪

In afghanistan, captain kris ward and his wingman

Swoop in over a squadron of british soldiers

About to be ambushed by the taliban.

[explosions and artillery fire]

Capt. Ward: The enemy forces opened up on them

With small arms fire, heavy machine gun fire, and rpgs,

Which is classic small arms munitions,

Man-carryable munitions that the enemy forces had.

Narrator: Ward and his wingman swoop down, take aim,

And unload.

Capt. Ward: My wingman calls in hot, and then I hear a tone.

At that point I know that the bomb has left his aircraft.

Narrator: Twenty seconds later, ward sees the proof of his work

Flash across the screen.

Capt. Ward: At that point we relayed to the friendlies

That the enemy forces had been destroyed

And that we couldn't see any further movement.

You can hear the relief in the ground troop's voice

When they respond on the radio.

They asked us to remain in the overhead for just support

For the next 20 minutes to make sure nothing else happened.

Narrator: In afghanistan, british harriers

Clock more than 22,000 flying hours, many of them at night.

Capt. Ward: Without the night capabilities on the harrier

And particularly the sniper pod and the night vision goggles,

It would've been impossible to conduct that mission.

Narrator: Despite its success, afghanistan

Is the final operation for the british harriers.

The aging aircraft break down more often

And become harder to maintain.

Fox: Probably the most difficult thing about

Maintaining the harrier is just getting the parts

That we need when we need it.

The aircraft isn't new anymore, it's been around for a while,

They're not making new parts, they're not making new aircraft.

When jets go down, we have to work with what jets are left.

♪ ♪

Narrator: In 2010 the british royal air force retires

Its aging harrier squadron after 40 years of service.

In the u.S., the marine corps phases theirs out too.

Roger: It's still in combat, it's been fighting,

But the harrier is going to start to quickly fade

Into retirement.

Narrator: But the harrier's legacy lives on

In a new generation of aircraft.

Roger: The harrier has put a premium

On vertical and short takeoff and landing capability

By showing that you can successfully operate

Away from traditional airbases.

♪ ♪

This requirement has now evolved into what is becoming

The marine corps' f-35b.

♪ ♪

Narrator: The lockheed martin f-35b. It hovers. It's smart.

And it's supersonic.

Roger: The f-35b includes all the capabilities

Available to the harrier,

Including vertical takeoff and landing,

But also incorporates advanced stealth features,

Internal weapons carriage

And the most advanced avionics available today.

Narrator: It's also the most expensive weapons program in u.S. History,

Projected at one and a half trillion dollars.

Lon: It is the major procurement program for the future,

And in fact it's quite exciting that you see now

5th-generation stealthy airplanes that are hovering.

Narrator: Thanks to the harrier,

Short takeoff and vertical landing is now a must-have.

Just like the harrier, the f-35 has been plagued

By mechanical errors, pilot error, and steep cost overages.

Roger: Unfortunately, that's just an outcome

Of the complexity and challenges of

Operating a vertical and short takeoff and landing aircraft.

They were technologically a very difficult type of aircraft

To implement.

Narrator: While the f-35 struggles for credibility,

The harrier has proven itself for over 40 years,

In the air, at sea, and on the ground.

Roger: One reason for the harrier's success

And its longevity in service

Is that it has filled a niche that no other aircraft can fill.

No other aircraft can operate on the front lines

In the same way that the harrier can.

Roger: The harrier series has undergone constant evolution

Since it first came into service over 45 years ago.

Advances have included the ability to dogfight,

The ability to fight at night, all-weather attack capability,

The ability to carry all of the latest weapon systems.

Narrator: It's one of the most successful

Weapons collaborations between nato nations.

Lon: The italian navy bought this airplane,

And same with the spanish navy,

So this was an international program.

They actually collaborated and worked together

To make this basic platform grow and improve its capability.

Narrator: Fast, powerful, and innovative.

Its days of service may be numbered, but the harrier

Will always remain an icon of aviation.

♪ ♪