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The AV-8B Harrier is a V/STOL-capable fighter jet featured in both ArmA: Armed Assault and ArmA 2.


ArmA: Armed Assault[]

The AV-8B Harrier is used exclusively by U.S. Army forces in ArmA: Armed Assault.

Overview[]

  • Role:
    • Multi-role fighter
« The AV-8B Harrier is a single-seat attack aircraft that provides offensive air support to the Marines.
AV-8B has Vertical/Short Take-Off or Landing capability and can operate from a variety of waterborne platforms and improvised airfields.
The Harrier’s ability to hover or fly slowly over the battlefield makes it ideal for the Close Air Support role.
Library Description
»

Design[]

The Harrier is a V/STOL-capable multi-role fighter that uses a composite wing layout.

Armament
By default, the AV-8B is always armed with a 25 mm cannon that is loaded with 300 rounds of high-explosive (HE) ammunition. Its primary armament comes in the form of four air-to-air AIM-9X missiles. An alternate loadout consists of six laser-guided GBU-12 bombs instead.

Features
Designed with V/STOL capability in mind, the Harrier is capable of taking off and landing on almost every flat surface without the need to operate from an airfield.

Unlike the A-10, the Harrier is intended to be used for either ground attack or air interdiction roles depending on its loadout. Provided that ground forces paint targets with a laser designator, the Harrier can safely bombard targets at a safe altitude without needing to fly in close.

Thanks to its V/STOL capability, the Harrier also does not require an airfield to take off from or land (unlike the A-10), which minimises its logistical footprint.

Drawbacks
Neither variant of the Harrier carries air-to-ground anti-tank missiles, which limits its usefulness outside of bombarding stationary targets or shooting down helicopters. It also cannot fulfil both air-to-air interception and ground attack simultaneously since it lacks the necessary number of hardpoints to carry ordnance for both roles.

Crew Capacity
The Harrier only contains a single seat for the pilot. It is unable to transport any additional crew or passengers.


Variants[]

Arma1-render-harrieraa
Baseline air-to-air variant. This model carries four short-ranged AIM-9X missiles.

Arma1-render-harriercas
Identical to the baseline variant but carries six GBU-12 laser-guided bombs instead.


Protection[]

Both variants of the Harrier have base armour values of 40.

Hull[]

Harriers can withstand up to 40 points of damage.


Armament[]

All weapon systems are controlled by the Harrier's pilot on both variants:

GAU-12[]

Arma1-vehicleweapons-av8b-gau12
Base damage value Initial velocity (m/s)
124 1,040

25 mm Gatling cannon. Fires HE shells that are useful against other aircraft for Within Visual Range (WVR) dogfights.

It has an effective firing range of 1,400 metres, and can attain a fire rate of up to 3,000 rounds per minute along with a muzzle velocity of 1,040 m/s.

AIM-9X[]

Arma1-vehicleweapons-av8b-aim9x

NOTE: Only available on the AV-8B (A2A) variant.

Damage type Base damage value Maximum speed (m/s)
High-Explosive 200 500

Short-ranged, infrared-guided air-to-air missile. Has a maximum lock-on range of 6,000 metres.

The AIM-9X has a firing delay of 0.1 seconds in-between launches. Assuming that the AV-8B is rearming from a logistical vehicle, it takes a full 30 seconds to rearm all missiles.

Launched missiles take 10 seconds for their motors to reach a top speed of 500 m/s in mid-flight. The warhead itself has a blast radius of 7 metres.

GBU-12[]

Arma1-vehicleweapons-av8b-gbu12

NOTE: Only available on the AV-8B (GBU) variant.

Base damage value Maximum speed (m/s)
5,000 N/A

Laser-guided bombs. Can be optionally employed as unguided gravity bombs instead.

GBU-12s have a blast radius of 12 metres and will instantly destroy any ground vehicle with a direct/indirect hit.


Trivia[]

  • Contrary to its depiction in Armed Assault, the real-world U.S. Army does not utilise the Harrier in any capacity and is solely operated by the U.S. Marine Corps.
  • Initially neither variant of the Harrier could actually take-off or land vertically, as proper support for V/STOL functionality was only added to Armed Assault's Real Virtuality engine following the release of Patch 1.05.[1]
    • The GBU-armed variant also did not exist until it was added in Patch 1.06.[2]

Gallery[]

ArmA 2[]

The AV-8B Harrier is used exclusively by U.S. Marine aviation wings in ArmA 2.

Overview[]

  • Role:
    • Ground attack
« The AV-8B Harrier is a single-seat attack aircraft that provides powerful air support for the Marines.
The AV-8B can perform Short/Vertical Take-Off or Landing (S/VTOL) making it ideal for improvised airfields and carrier launches.
It is armed with a dual Hydra rocket system, dual AIM-9 air-to-air guided missile platforms, six Mark 82 low-drag general-purpose bombs and with a 25mm cannon.
Armoury Description
»

Design[]

The Harrier in ArmA 2 remains mostly the same as its predecessor in Armed Assault, though it now carries a more balanced loadout by default.

Armament
The Harrier's standard armament consists of a 25 mm cannon loaded with 300 rounds of HE shells.

Its default multi-role loadout enables it to carry up to six unguided iron bombs, two short-range infrared-guided air-to-air missiles, and twin 70 mm rocket pods loaded with up to fourteen rockets fitted with high-explosive dual purpose (HEDP) warheads. Alternatively, it can be armed with up to six laser guided bombs instead in its CAS role.

Features
Unlike its predecessor, the baseline variant of the ArmA 2 Harrier exchanges its pure air-to-air loadout for additional unguided weaponry in the form of dual rocket pods.

Compared to its stealthier counterpart, the Harrier is far more useful and is highly efficient at providing CAS thanks to its diverse array of air-to-ground munitions. Depending on its loadout, the Harrier can now be optimised to strike large clumps of soft targets with a combination of rocket fire and iron bombs or be used to specifically attack hard targets with guided bombs.

Although its wing pylons cannot be fitted with anti-tank missiles like the A-10, the Harrier makes up for it by being able to carry up to six GBU-12s at once - provided that it is utilising its LGB loadout. So long as ground forces or airborne FAC-oriented assets like the UH-1Y are close by to help lase a target, the Harrier can take out almost any kind of static or slow-moving ground threat.

Drawbacks
It should be noted that the Harrier has relatively poor aerodynamics and lacks the agility or speeds of the F-35 and its Russian counterpart. In addition to this drawback, attempting to hover in VTOL mode is extremely difficult compared to the F-35.

The Harrier's controls essentially lock up and become nigh impossible to control while VTOL is engaged; simply adjusting the Harrier's angle and heading becomes an arduous task that can potentially result in the Harrier veering off into a structure or landing upside down. As such transitioning to vertical flight should only be done when landing or taking off after the Harrier has been lined up perfectly.

Crew Capacity
The Harrier only contains a single seat for the pilot themselves. It is unable to transport any passengers or additional crewmen.


Variants[]

Arma2-render-harriermr
Standard multi-role variant.

Armed with a basic loadout consisting of unguided bombs, twin rocket pods, and A2A missiles.

Arma2-render-harriercas
Precision strike CAS variant.

Identical to the baseline model but exchanges all of its weapons and munitions (aside from the 25 mm cannon) for six laser-guided bombs.


Protection[]

Both variants of the Harrier have base armour values of 40.

Hull[]

Harrier hulls can only take up to 40 points of damage. Depletion of the hull's integrity will instantly result in a total loss.


Armament[]

The Harrier's pilot controls all weapon systems on both variants:

GAU-12[]

Arma2-vehicleweapons-av8b-gau12
Base damage value Aerodynamic friction Initial velocity (m/s)
56 -0.00062 1,040

25 mm Gatling cannon. Fires HE-based shells useful for WVR dogfights.

It can attain a fire rate of up to 3,000 RPM and has a muzzle velocity of 1,040 m/s. The cannon itself has an effective firing range of between 400 and 1,500 metres. Accuracy-wise, the GAU-12 has a dispersion of 0.0024 rad at all ranges.

Mk82[]

Arma2-vehicleweapons-av8b-mk82

NOTE: Only available on the baseline AV-8B variant.

Base damage value Maximum speed (m/s)
5,000 N/A

Unguided iron bomb.

Useful against clumps of infantry and stationary ground vehicles. The bombs themselves have a blast radius of 12 metres and can destroy most ground vehicles in a single hit.

Hydra 70[]

Arma2-vehicleweapons-av8b-hydra70

NOTE: Only available on the baseline AV-8B variant.

Damage type Base damage value Maximum speed (m/s)
High-Explosive 150 740

Unguided 70 mm rockets. Useful against groups of infantry and unarmoured/lightly-armoured ground vehicles. Rockets are always launched in pairs and contain high-explosive (HE) warheads.

There is a delay of 0.2 seconds in-between volleys (300 RPM) and rockets are launched with an initial velocity of 44 m/s. It takes a further 1.1 seconds before the motors can reach their top speed of 740 m/s in mid-flight. The warheads have a blast radius of 12 metres.

AIM-9L Sidewinder[]

Arma2-vehicleweapons-av8b-aim9xsidewinder

NOTE: Only available on the baseline AV-8B variant.

Damage type Base damage value Maximum speed (m/s)
High-Explosive 200 828

Infrared-guided air-to-air missile. Has a maximum lock-on range of 9,000 metres.

There is a delay of 0.1 seconds in-between missile launches. 30 seconds will be required to reload a fresh batch of missiles at a logistical vehicle (assuming the Harrier has run out). It takes a total of 5 seconds for the missile's motor to reach a top speed of 828 m/s in mid-flight.

The seeker has a 20% chance to lose lock against flare countermeasures. Its warhead has a blast radius of 10 metres.

GBU-12[]

Arma2-vehicleweapons-av8b-gbu12

NOTE: Only available on the AV-8B (LGB) variant.

Base damage value Maximum speed (m/s)
5,000 N/A

Laser-guided bomb. Can be optionally employed as an unguided gravity bomb instead.

There is a small delay of 0.2 seconds in-between bomb drops. The bombs themselves have a blast radius of 12 metres, and are capable of destroying any ground vehicle in a single hit.


Avionics[]

MAWS[]

The Harrier has an integrated Missile Approach Warning System and will warn the pilot of incoming missiles that are already in mid-flight and homing onto it.

RWR[]

The Harrier possesses a Radar Warning Receiver and will alert the pilot of being locked-onto by radar-based targeting systems.

IWR[]

The Harrier has an Infrared Warning Receiver and will warn the pilot of being targeted by infrared-based weapon systems.


Trivia[]

  • Like the F-35, the Harrier was one of few fixed-wing assets from the original version of ArmA 2 to receive the ability to launch anti-missile countermeasures following the release of the Operation Arrowhead expansion pack.[3]
  • Prior to Patch 1.08, the Harrier had issues taking off normally in STOL mode from rough airstrips (this was especially noticeable at the Krasnostav airstrip on the Chernarus terrain). Attempting to do so would result in the Harrier exploding once it gained enough speed.[4]
  • Even after Operation Arrowhead's launch, the Harrier did not get access to an Infrared Warning Receiver. It was finally given one after the release of the latest Steam version patches (as part of CorePatch).[5]
  • British Royal Navy-operated Harriers are briefly mentioned by name in the intro news cutscene for Operation Arrowhead.[6] However, the in-game BAF faction does not actually have access to Harriers in regular gameplay.
  • The Harrier's sluggish VTOL flight remains the same in ArmA 2 and is (mostly) depicted accurately, as no variants of the Harrier family are actually capable of hovering like a helicopter (contrary to its highly unrealistic depiction in most games and films).
    • However, its ability to take-off vertically while using a full loadout (particularly the LGB variant) and possessing a full fuel tank is still unrealistic, as the Harrier in reality must compromise by reducing its total fuel load to account for the added weight.

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. Španěl, M et al. 2007, ArmA: Armed Assault: Version History, Bohemia Interactive Community Wiki, viewed 20 November 2023, <https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/ArmA:_Armed_Assault:_Version_History#Version_1.05>.
  2. Španěl, M et al. 2007, ArmA: Armed Assault: Version History, Bohemia Interactive Community Wiki, viewed 20 November 2023, <https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/ArmA:_Armed_Assault:_Version_History#Version_1.06>.
  3. Suma_bi_wiki et al. 2010, Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead: Questions and Answers, Bohemia Interactive Community Wiki, viewed 9 February 2024, <https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_2:_Operation_Arrowhead:_Questions_and_Answers>.
  4. .kju et al. 2009, Arma 2: Version History, Bohemia Interactive Community Wiki, viewed 20 November 2023, <https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_2:_Version_History#Version_1.08>.
  5. Mazzon, M et al. 2019, CorePatch, GitHub, viewed 20 November 2023, <https://github.com/Goliath86/CorePatch/blob/master/Changelog.txt>.
  6. ARMA 2: Operation Arrowhead 2010 [Video Game], Bohemia Interactive a.s., Operation Arrowhead, Backstab, "British RN Harriers sink Takistani light cruiser 'Pride of Chalang' in Salak Darya delta.", AAN News

External links[]

See also[]

Aircraft of comparable role and configuration[]

Vehicles of ArmA: Armed Assault
Wheeled 5T TruckArmy 4x4BusBRDM-2CarHatchbackHMMWV (Civil) • Offroad (Hilux) • M1030 (TT650, TT650G) • Pick-Up (Datsun) • SedanStrykerTractorUAZUral
Tracked BMP-2M1A1M113ShilkaT-72
Rotor-wing AH-6AH-1ZKA-50MH-6Mi17UH-60
Fixed-wing A-10AV-8BCamelDC-3Su-34
Aquatic CRRCRHIBPBX Boat
(Parenthesis) denote variants.
Queen's Gambit
OFP-factionicon-unitedstates U.S. Army - Vehicles (ArmA: Armed Assault)
Wheeled 5T TruckHMMWVM1030Stryker
Tracked M1A1M113
Rotor-wing AH-6AH-1ZMH-6UH-60
Fixed-wing A-10AV-8BCamel
Aquatic CRRCRHIB
Vehicles of ArmA 2
Wheeled 9P117 SCUD-BATVBRDM-2* • BTR-40BTR-60BTR-90BM-21 Grad* • BusCarDingo 2 CZHatchbackHMMWV* • GAZJackal 2 MWMIKKamazLada* • LAV-25Military OffroadMotorcycle* (Old moto) • Mountain bike (Old bike) • MTVR* • Offroad* • Pandur II 8x8 CZPickup* • RM-70S1203SedanStryker (MGS) • SUV (Armored SUV) • T810TractorTouring CarTowing TractorUAZ-469* • Ural* • V3S* • Vodnik
Tracked 2S6M TunguskaAAVP-7A1BMP-2BMP-3BVP-1FV510 WarriorM1 Abrams* (M1A2 TUSK*) • M113M2 BradleyM270 MLRS* • T-34* • T-55T-72* (T-72M4 CZ) • T-90ZSU-23-4*
Rotor-wing AH-1ZAH-6J Little Bird (AH-6X) • AH-11 WildcatAH-64D* (AH-1) • CH-47F Chinook (Chinook HC4) • Ka-52Ka-60Ka-137Merlin HC3MH-6J Little BirdMi-8MTV-3* (Mi-17*) • Mi-24P (Mi-24D*, Mi-24V*) • UH-1Y (UH-1H) • UH-60 Black Hawk (MH-60S)
Fixed-wing A-10 Thunderbolt II* • An-2AV-8B HarrierC-130J Hercules* • F-35 Lightning IIL-159 ALCAL-39ZA (L-39C) • MQ-9 Reaper* • MV-22 OspreyPchela-1TSu-39 (Su-25*) • Su-34
Aquatic CRRCFishing BoatPBXRHIBSmall Boat
(Parenthesis) denote variants.
* indicates partial DLC dependency.
Operation Arrowhead | British Armed Forces | Private Military Company | Army of the Czech Republic
Arma2-factionicon-usmc USMC - Vehicles (ArmA 2)
Wheeled HMMWVLAV-25MotorcycleMountain bikeMTVRTowing Tractor
Tracked AAVP-7A1M1 Abrams (M1A2 TUSK) • M270 MLRS
Rotor-wing AH-1ZAH-64DUH-1YMH-60S
Fixed-wing A-10 Thunderbolt IIAV-8B HarrierC-130J HerculesF-35 Lightning IIMQ-9 ReaperMV-22 Osprey
Aquatic CRRCRHIB
(Parenthesis) denote variants.
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