Navy bids adieu to Sea Harriers

The Indian Navy is set to bid adieu to its Sea Harrier fighter jets that flew from the decks of India’s first 2 aircraft carriers – INS Vikrant and INS Viraat – in the last 3 decades.

The last 11 Sea Harrier aircraft would be de-inducted at a function in Panaji on May 11 in the presence of outgoing Navy chief Admiral R K Dhowan.

These fighters were commissioned way back in 1983 for operations on-board INS Vikrant and later for INS Viraat, which too is now slated for decommissioning within a few months. The last task of these aircraft was to fly at the International Fleet Review in Visakhapatnam in March, when seven Harriers were on-board INS Viraat and 6 of them flew.

With its manufacturers Bae Systems and Rolls- Royce giving up on supplying the spares, the Navy can no longer fly these aircraft even as a vintage platform. Some of the airframes, however, may be retained as stationary display items in naval establishments.