Sea Harrier AEW.1 and KGR.3 Harrier

[MartG]

Nice looking build - though I think the AWG-9 in that position may cook the aircrew 

[sandiego89]

Yes I did also consider the radiation hazard, and the dish would not have transmitted while facing ahead, but would have been modified with a broader sweep than the F-14 to the sides.  The AEW would take up a racetrack pattern and scan to one side at a time, but not straight ahead. Although this was nowhere near 360 degree coverage, the attackers were coming from pretty well known vectors from the Argentine mainland, so with some carefull planning the could steer the dish to the suspected vectors.  Some shieding for the crew would have been added.     

[Captain Canada]

I love the finlets on the AEW1's tailplane

That's what I was thinking ! That pic from above really shows how long and sleek the mods you did make the old girl look....very sexy !

[Acree]

Nice model; great ideas!  Hope the GIB had a lead back-pack and a tin-foil hat, though!

Cheers,
Chuck

[sideshowbob9]

Great concept & models! 

[sandiego89]

had an offline request for a closer up shot of the front of the pod.  Here it is. 

[noxioux]

The AEW.1 is sweet.  You did a great job putting those different bits together.  It looks totally 'right'.

[Martin H]

cool another AEW harrier



I cant take credit for this one. its in the SIG's reserve collection. And came to us from the Midland Air Museum at Coventry. And they have no idea who built it.

[sideshowbob9]

That is ugly in all the right ways!

[sandiego89]

Thanks for digging that one up, and it thought my entry would have stability challenges!- that yellow one would have been something else.  I toyed with the idea of a wing mounted pod, but thought the top mounted version worked best, and as she needed all the fuel she could get, she has the wing mounted tanks and the probe to take an extra sip from the KGR3.  I thought the 190 gallon tanks would be to much weight, and left off the outer pylons to save a few pounds.  I figured with a top off from the KGR3 about 40 minutes into the sortie, she would have been good for about 2 hours.

I also thought about belly and nose mounting of large radar, but the belly was out due to space, hovering performance and and engine heat, and as the harrier and especially the T2/T4 were very sensitive to airflow around the nose it really only left a spine mounted or top of the vertical stabilizer version. 

Can anyone confirm that there were at least ideas/rumors to put a podded Blue Vixen radar onto a GR7/GR9 to give BVR capability to the joint force harrier?   

[PR19_Kit]

Can anyone confirm that there were at least ideas/rumors to put a podded Blue Vixen radar onto a GR7/GR9 to give BVR capability to the joint force harrier?   

That would be some pod! The Blue Vixen was the fit on the FA2 SHARs, wasn't it? I can't think of any of the stores positions that would be far enough off the ground to carry something that big.

Now a GR7 with a Blue Vixen fit on the nose would make sense, but then it would look too much like a AV-8B Harrier II Plus and we couldn't have that at all, could we? And I guess it would remove some of the 'Night Attack' capability from the GR7 as well.

[P1127]

cool another AEW harrier



I cant take credit for this one. its in the SIG's reserve collection. And came to us from the Midland Air Museum at Coventry. And they have no idea who built it.

I do - but I can't remember!! It appeared as an April Fool in Scale Models in the late 80s/early 90s. I must dig out the mag (Memory says it was the Wakeford/Rentoul combination)