First-generation Harriers were being introduced into Royal Air Force and United States Marine Corps; operational experience had highlighted demand for a more capable aircraft.

[3][4] Due to US interest, work proceeded on the development of a less ambitious successor, a Harrier fitted with a larger wing and making use of composite materials in its construction.

The US government was content to continue if a major foreign buyer was found and Britain had a plan to improve the Harrier with a new, larger metal wing.

[8] The US and UK agreement to proceed included a British contribution of US$280 million to cover development costs to meet their own requirements and to purchase at least 60 aircraft.

[9] The UK agreement included the involvement of British Aerospace (BAe) as a major subcontractor, manufacturing sections such as the rear fuselage for all customers of the AV-8B.

The Harrier II was an Anglicised version of the AV-8B, British Aerospace producing the aircraft as the prime contractor, with McDonnell Douglas serving as a sub-contractor; final assembly work was performed at Dunsfold, England.

The original aluminium alloy fuselage was replaced with one made extensively of composites, providing significant weight reduction and increased payload or range.

[15] Among the major differences with the American cousin, was the new ZEUS Electronic countermeasure (ECM) system, also proposed for the USMC AV-8 (which retained, after an evaluation, the original ALQ-164).

However, the Ministry of Defence rejected this as risky and too expensive; the Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram estimated that the cost would be in excess of £600 million.

[30] Some GR7s were equipped with uprated Rolls-Royce Pegasus engines, correspondingly redesignated as GR7A; these Harriers had significantly improved takeoff and landing capabilities, and could carry greater payloads.

[31][N 4] In order to guide laser-guided bombs, from 1998 onwards a number of TIALD laser designator pods were made available to the Harrier II fleet, however these proved to be extremely scarce and often unavailable for pilot training.

[36] The first of the incremental improvements started with software upgrades to the communications, ground proximity warning and navigation systems, followed by the integration of the AGM-65 Maverick air-to-ground missile.

[41] In July 2008, Qinetiq was awarded a contract to perform upgrades and maintain the Harrier II fleet until 2018, which was the predicted out of service date for the type.

A squadron of Harrier IIs was stationed at Gioia del Colle Air Base in Italy, relieving an earlier deployment of RAF SEPECAT Jaguars.

[50] The Invincible-class carriers also received multiple adaptations for greater compatibility with the Harrier II, including changes to the communications, lighting and flight deck.

[51] Cooperative operations between the two services was formalised under the Joint Force Harrier (JFH) command organisation, which was brought about following the 1998 Strategic Defence Review.

[57] On 27 April 1999, during a mission to attack a Serbian military depot, RAF Harriers came under heavy anti-aircraft fire, but did not suffer losses as a result.

[45] The BBC reported the Harrier II had been achieving 80% direct hit rate during the conflict; a later Parliamentary Select Committee found that 24% of munitions expended in the theatre by all RAF aircraft had been precision weapons.

[62] When war broke out, Harriers flew reconnaissance and strike missions inside Southern Iraq, reportedly to destroy Scud missile launchers to prevent their use against neighbouring Kuwait.

[72] While initial operations in Afghanistan had focused on intimidation and reconnaissance, demand for interdiction missions using the Harrier II spiked dramatically during the Helmand province campaign.

[38] Between July and September 2006, the theatre total for munitions deployed by British Harriers on planned operations and close air support to ground forces rose from 179 to 539, the majority being CRV-7 rockets.

[75] In 2005, allegations emerged in Parliament that, following the transfer of servicing duties to RAF Cottesmore, the standard and quality of maintenance on the Harrier fleet had fallen dramatically; several airframes had been considerably damaged and one likely destroyed due to mistakes made, the time taken to perform the servicing had risen from 100 days to 155 days, and the cost per aircraft had also risen to more than ten times that of the prior arrangements performed by Defence Aviation Repair Agency (DARA).

[89][90][91] According to a report by Air Forces Monthly, some of the 72 Harrier IIs were to fly again, as the USMC planned to equip two squadrons with GR.9/9A models due to the well-maintained condition of the airframes when inspected at RAF Cottesmore, where the aircraft were stored and maintained by a skeleton crew of technicians following their retirement.

[92] Data from Harrier II, Validating V/STOL[106]General characteristics Performance Armament Avionics GEC-Marconi (Plessey) PVS-2000 Missile approach warning system Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era