The United States Marine Corps has retired the AV-8 Harrier, ending 55 years of service for the vertical takeoff and landing aircraft known as the “jump jet.” A sundown ceremony at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina marked the final chapter for the last U.S. unit to fly the Harrier, with about 5,000 people watching the aircraft demonstrate the hovering and vertical takeoff and landing abilities that made it famous. Marine Attack Squadron 223 commander Lt. Col. John B. Cumbie said the Harrier would be remembered for its combat record, V/STOL capability and the Marines and sailors who built the aircraft’s legacy.
The Harrier became one of the most distinctive jets in U.S. military history because it did not require a runway. Powered by a single turbofan engine with thrust directed through four rotating nozzles, it could operate from primitive landing sites or from Navy amphibious assault ships. That flexibility allowed Marine pilots to stay closer to combat than aircraft based at conventional airfields. Former Harrier pilot retired Lt. Col. Mike Rountree said the jet needed no airfield, only a Marine flying it and a small support crew to refuel and rearm it.
The aircraft also carried a potent weapons load, with six underwing mounts for bombs or rockets and a 25-millimeter cannon. Aviation museum information notes that a fully loaded Harrier could carry more firepower than a World War II B-17 Flying Fortress. The jet earned a reputation for toughness and usefulness across multiple conflicts. It served in the 1991 Gulf War, NATO operations in the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and the campaign against ISIS, and more recently operated in the Caribbean as part of a U.S. naval presence near Venezuela.
The AV-8B was the second version of the Harrier. The original AV-8A was developed by Britain’s Hawker Siddeley in the 1960s, and the Marine Corps began using the aircraft in 1971. McDonnell Douglas later produced the upgraded AV-8B beginning in 1985. By the 1990s, each jet cost about $23.6 million, or roughly $50 million in today’s dollars, and the Marine Corps once fielded about 280 Harriers before gradually replacing them with the F-35B stealth fighter. The F-35B is the newer vertical takeoff and landing aircraft now operating from amphibious assault ships.
Although the Harrier is leaving U.S. service, it will continue flying with the Italian and Spanish militaries and may later appear in museums as remaining aircraft are retired. Beyond its battlefield legacy, the jet also gained pop-culture fame after a Pepsi promotion and Super Bowl commercial suggested it could be won with enough Pepsi Points. A student tried to claim the aircraft, but a federal court ruled that no reasonable person would believe a soft drink company was actually giving away a fighter jet.
