Possibly one of the most extraordinary fighters in existance is the Harrier jet. No other jet can match it's manuverability. This plane can hover and also fly in reverse. The mechanism to do this is simple in the extreme. First thought of in the 1950's by a French designer named Michel Wibault. The plane flew in it's oringnal form in 1960. The core of the plane is the 4 rotating nozzels for the pegasus engine. These nozzels can be rotated through 90.5 degrees. This arrangement allows vertical take off but it was quickly established that a short rolling take off allowed even more fuel and weapons to be included. If a "ski jump" is placed at the end of the runway at a vertical angle of 20 degrees even more fuel and ammo can be carried aloft.

The Harrier is an attack aircraft and as such is able to carry a large assortment of air-to-surface missiles like the Maverick missileand bombs, up to 2000lb laser guided, it also carrier the sidewinder missile and can launch anti-ship missiles.

VIFFing stands for Vector In Forward Flight. The first person to perform this manuevour was a USMC captain called Harry Blot. In 1070 while at 500 Knots Captain Blot pushed the nozzel to the 98 degree limit. Captain Blot was slammed against the control stick. This move can be used to pull some very tight loops enabling a harrire to evade and attack other jets at close range.

The Harrier went to war during the Falklands War. While there it provided fleet defence, ground attack and top cover defence for ground attack fighter missions.