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Close air support (CAS) operations in Afghanistan have underlined the soundness of the UK Royal Air Force's (RAF's) Harrier GR.7A as a weapons delivery platform, while also bringing to light the desirability of a number of improvements.
Squadron Leader Tony Cann from the RAF's Air Warfare Centre, speaking at the Omega CAS Conference in London in October 2006, noted that its operational ceiling of better than 30,000 ft with a full weapon load placed it above the Manportable Air Defence System (MANPADS) threat, and that it was also faster and more manoeuvrable than some of its contemporaries.
Principal weaknesses in the Harrier's current equipment were identified as the TIALD targeting pod (which lacks sufficient image definition for personnel identification from above hostile weapon height); the lack of a gun (which is to be preferred to CRV7 rockets for forward-firing ground engagements); and lack of a fully integrated datalink capability for digital CAS.
