@ London, UK
September 2023
Front view of the combat veteran Harrier (ZD461) at the Imperial War Museum. Delivered to the Royal Air Force in 1989 as a Harrier GR5, this aircraft was later upgraded to GR7 and GR9 specs. Eight underwing hardpoints accommodate 8,000 lbs of ordnance. The bulge on top of the nose houses a FLIR sensor, the glass nose is a target designator for the Hughes AN/ASB-19 Angle Rate Bombing System (ARBS). During 20 years of service ZD461 saw action in Iraq and Afghanistan, finishing with the Naval Strike Wing before a taxiing incident put this airframe on the scrap list. First flown in 1985, the Harrier II was derived from the McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II, with 143 produced. Following the retirement of the Harrier fleet from RAF service in 2010, ZD461 was acquired by the IWM in 2012.