The AV-8B Harrier II is a second generation vertical short takeoff and landing (V/STOL) aircraft based on the original British Harrier design of the late 1960's. Combining tactical mobility, responsiveness, reduced operating cost, and basing flexibility -- both afloat and ashore -- V/STOL aircraft are well-suited to the special combat and expeditionary requirements of the US Marine Corps.

The primary mission of the AV-8B Harrier II is to provide close air support to ground forces. Secondary missions include short range interdiction, fighter escort, deck launched interception, and combat air patrol (CAP).

After completing operational evaluation trials in March 1985, the USMC AV-8B Harrier II was formally approved for full production some six months later. A two-seat training version was introduced in 1987 and a night attack version entered service in late 1989.

Pictured here is a 1:72 scale replica of a RAF Harrier GR. Mk. 7 jump jet flown by No.4 Squadron when it participated in "Operation Telic", the attack on Iraq, during spring 2003. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 5-inches
Length: 7-3/4-inches

Release Date: September 2009

Historical Account: "Tell Everyone Leave is Cancelled" - Operation (or Op) TELIC is the codename under which all British operations of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq and after were being conducted. A total of 46,000 troops of all the British Services were committed to the operation at its start. At the peak of the campaign, some 26,000 British Army soldiers, 4,000 Royal Marines, 5,000 Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary sailors and 8,100 Royal Air Force airmen were in action. British Armed Forces combat operations in Iraq as part of TELIC officially ended on April 30, 2009 with British troops handing over control to the United States Military.

Operation TELIC is one of the largest deployments of British forces since WWII. It is only approached in size by the 1991 Operation GRANBY deployment for the Gulf War and the 1956 Operation Musketeer Suez Crisis deployment. It is considerably larger than the 1982 Operation Corporate in the Falklands War, which saw around 30,000 personnel deployed and the Korean War, which saw fewer than 20,000 personnel deployed.

Some 9,500 of the British servicemen and women who deployed on Operation TELIC for the invasion and its aftermath were reservists, the vast majority of them from the Territorial Army.

Notice that British forces were deploying to the region was given in three separate Commons statements by Geoff Hoon Secretary of State for Defence. On 7 January, the deployment of the naval forces was announced, along with the Royal Marines component. 20 January saw the land forces deployment announced and 6 February the air forces. They were ready in time for hostilities to start on 19 March. When compared with the deployment of forces prior to the Gulf War things proceeded a great deal faster, with the slowest deploying elements taking 10 weeks to get from base to combat readiness in the theatre.

The deployment used 64 British and foreign flagged merchant vessels.

TELIC means a purposeful or defined action, but unlike the United States who called their equivalent military deployment Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Ministry of Defence uses a computer to generate its names so that they carry no overtly political connotations. As initial planning took place over the Christmas 2002 period, personnel jokingly referred to TELIC as standing for Tell Everyone Leave Is Cancelled.