The end of the decade has brought with it a depressing swathe of combat aircraft retirements, with the closure of the UK's Joint Force Harrier on December 15 truly marking the end of an era. The UK has sacrificed its carrier strike capability until 2020, if not forever. It's difficult to see how the planned return to conventional catapult and arrested operations with the F-35C can realistically be attained by the UK despite the proclamations of the Strategic Defence and Security Review. The Ministry of Defence is faced with having to start again from scratch with a fixed-wing carrier capability in 10 years' time following the sad demise of the Harrier. A knock -on effect of the UK cutbacks has seen BAE Systems announcing a round of job losses, with the end of Harrier GR9 support and the cancellation of the Nimrod MRA4 project. The latest redundancies will involve 1,900 employees. The biggest job losses will be at the Woodford and Warton sites. For more on the Harrier retirement, turn to page 28 for our special report from RAF Cottesmore.
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