Harrier Maintainability

FROM the earliest clays of the P.1127 the need for exceptional reliability has been clear: an aircraft intended to operate without airfields and runways will obviously spend much of its life away from hangars and any but the simplest maintenance facilities so that the chief needs, in order of priority, were: (i) to prevent trouble arising; (ii) to recognise its absence with certainty; (iii) when necessary to locate its origin quickly and accurately; and (iv) to correct it.