MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Falklands navy veteran tests prototype Harrier replacement.
A veteran Royal Navy pilot of the Falklands conflict has made the first hovering test flight in a United States prototype of an advanced strike aircraft being developed to replace the Harrier jump jet aircraft which played a vital role in the recapture of the Islands in 1982
Simon Hargreaves, who flew 61 combat missions against Argentine forces, is leading the team testing the Lockheed Martin's version of the Joint Strike Fighter in the California desert. Now a test pilot with Britain's main weapons manufacturer, BAE Systems, he has become the first pilot ever to take off and land vertically in a jump jet equipped with the aircraft's unique lift-fan propulsion system.
Simon Hargreaves, aged 44, was one of the youngest British Sea Harrier pilots in the Falklands conflict, and the first to land there on a temporary air strip. He destroyed an Argentine spy ship with cannon fire.
The Lockheed Martin X-35B is one of two prototypes under test , the other being developed by Boeing, to decide which will become the first new generation stealth warplane for both the British and United States armed forces. The multi-role, supersonic all -weather fighter and bomber, coming into service in 2012, will have "stealth" capability to avoid radar detection and be capable of short take-offs and vertical landings from aircraft carriers.
Britain is contributing 1.3 billion pounds to its development and plans to buy 150 of the aircraft for carrier and land-based operations. The sea-borne aircraft would be flown from the two large aircraft carriers the Government says it will order to replace the carrier which fought in the Falklands Conflict, HMS Invincible, and her sister ships, HMS Ark Royal and HMS Illustrious.
Harold Briley, London
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