The
British Aerospace Sea Harrier is a naval
short take-off and vertical landing/
vertical take-off and landing jet fighter, reconnaissance and attack aircraft; the second member of the
Harrier Jump Jet family developed. It first entered service with the
Royal Navy in April 1980 as the
Sea Harrier FRS1 and became informally known as the "
Shar". Unusual in an era in which most naval and land-based air superiority fighters were large and supersonic, the principal role of the subsonic Sea Harrier was to provide air defence of Royal Navy aircraft carriers.