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Description
US Navy F/A-18F Super Hornets from VFA-11 Strike Fighter Squadron (The Red Rippers, first formed in 1950) and UK Royal Navy Harrier II GR9s from 800 Naval Air Squadron (formed in 1933, one of the longest serving carrier based squadrons in history) participating in a joint exercise over the North Sea near the English Coast.

Commission done by Jetfreak-7

Despite a rather rocky and bloody start in 1775 to 1783, a particularly nasty setback from 1812 to 1815 and an inconvenient squabble in 1956, the alliance between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain (AND Northern Ireland... for the moment, anyway) has grown to become one of the closest and most geo-politically important relationships of the modern world. The two nations fought alongside each other to momentously great effect in both the European AND Pacific theaters of the Second World War (many in the US forget the crucial role the British played during the Philippines and Okinawa campaigns) as well as the Korean War, First Gulf War and Kosovo War (though the British would wisely stay out of the Vietnam War). The British also played a major role in NATO throughout the Cold War, despite the significant downsizing of their Armed Forces post WWII, and continue to do so to this day.

Things would unfortunately get pretty dark in the 21st Century. After the 9/11 Attacks, the US and UK militaries would continue to cooperate in the US led invasions/occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq (not so wise, especially the latter), the NATO bombing campaign to oust Muammar Gaddafi from power in Libya and the US lead efforts to oust Bashar al-Assad from power in Syria (yeah, those turned out great, didn't they?). They would also eventually aid in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria together. In addition, it has unfortunately been reported that both US and UK special forces units have been on the ground in Yemen, aiding the Royal Saudi Armed Forces and their Jihadist Sunni proxies (including Al Qaeda) in their horrific genocidal campaign against the Shia Houthis.

It is clear that the "Special Relationship" as it's come to be called will last long into the future, for better or for worse. Hopefully, there will be no US led wars against Iran or Venezuela in the coming years.

Now that all that dark stuff is out of the way, let's move on to the good and fun stuff!

The F/A-18 Hornet was the first modern multi-role carrier based strike fighter of the 4th Generation and one of the first fighter aircraft to include "fly by wire" controls (electronic interface controls that allows pilots to focus less on actually flying and more on other tasks). A joint project between MacDonald Douglas (before being bought out by Boeing) and Northrop (before the merge with Grumman), it was originally meant to be a replacement for the US Navy's aging A-4 Skyhawk and F-4 Phantom fleets. However, with the added pressure from the US Congress in the 1970s to find a low cost substitute for the F-14 Tomcat interceptor, it was decided that more air to air combat features would be added.

The Hornet entered service with the US Marine Corps in 1983 and US Navy in 1984. It saw it's first action performing suppression of enemy air defenses in Operation El Dorado Canyon, the 1986 US bombing of Libya in (an arguably over excessive) retaliation for the terrorist bombing of a West Berlin nightclub that killed two US servicemen. During the First Gulf War in 1991, two F/A-18s (piloted by Lt. Commander Mark Fox and Lt. Nick Mongilio respectively) would each shoot down one Iraqi MiG-21. These were the Hornet's first ever air to air kills, and would mark the first time in history that strike fighters successfully shot down enemy aircraft while still carrying a full load of bombs. Also, the first US casualty of the conflict would be a Hornet pilot, Lt. Commander Scott Speicher, shot down and killed by an Iraqi MiG-25 on the first night of hostilities.

The slightly larger, heavier and more advanced F/A-18E/F Super Hornet would first enter service with the US Navy in 1997 and would achieve initial operating capacity in 2001, just in time for the US invasion of Afghanistan. However, it would not end up seeing it's first real action until 2002, where two Super Hornets would participate in the bombing of the Talill Air Base in Iraq as part of Operation: Southern Watch. That mission also marked the first ever use of a 2,000 pound JDAM bomb in live combat. In 2017, the Super Hornet (piloted by Lt Cmd. Michael Tremel) would get it's first and so far only air to air kill in the skies over Syria against a Syrian Arab Air Force Su-22 that had just bombed US backed Kurdish fighters in the town of Ja'Din. This also marked the first shoot down of a manned aircraft by a US fighter pilot since the 1999 Kosovo War.

Collectively, the F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet represented a strong plurality of the US Military's fighter jet fleet throughout the 2000s and 2010s, with over a thousand air-frames in active service. In late 2019 however, the US Navy finally retired it's older legacy Hornets, keeping only the newer Super Hornets in service. The US Marine Corps on the other hand, has never adopted the Super Hornet and plans to keep on using the legacy Hornet until at least the 2030s. It should also be noted that the older legacy Hornet to this day remains the backbone in a number of other country's Air Forces, including Canada's, Australia's, Spain's, and Kuwait's. As of 2020, it has been reported that the German Air Force is looking to procurer Super Hornets to replace its old fleet of Panavia Tornadoes, though that has been disputed.

The Harrier Jump Jet was the first ever fixed wing aircraft to successfully achieve V/STOL (vertical/short takeoff and landing) capability. Originally conceived by now defunct Hawker Siddeley (with a little bit of cooperation from MacDonald Douglas) as a primarily ground attack aircraft, the Harrier first entered service with the Royal Air Force in 1969 and would become one of the British Military's most iconic warplanes. In 1978, British Aerospace would introduce the Sea Harrier, a carrier based Naval version with more emphasis on air to air capabilities due to the added fleet defense role. The Sea Harrier would see extensive use with the Indian Navy as well. The United States would eventually purchase the rights for MacDonald Douglas to manufacture the AV-8B, their own carrier based version the Harrier for the US Marines, though with the ground attack being the main focus just like the original British version. The latter entered service with the USMC in 1981 and achieved initial operating capacity in 1985.

In 1982, the Sea Harrier would be the first of the three types to see combat when Argentina invaded the British controlled but long disputed Falkland/Malvina Islands. Sea Harriers would provide the main air defense for the British task force that that came to reclaim the territory (as well participating in ground attacks) and would be credited for shooting down twenty Argentine aircraft in air to air combat while suffering no air to air losses themselves. Two Sea Harriers would be lost to ground fire though, and four to accidents. A number of RAF Harrier GR3s would also participate in the war. They'd been hastily modified for carrier use and even fitted with air to air missiles in case the Sea Harriers were lost, but they would end up exclusively being used for ground attack missions. Four would be lost in combat.

Interestingly, no British Harriers would participate in the First Gulf War. The US's AV-8B Harrier however, would undergo its trial by fire taking out Iraqi artillery positions in Kuwait during the opening phase of hostilities and would play a crucial role throughout much of the conflict. Five would be lost to Iraqi surface to air missiles.

The new and improved Harrier IIs (GR5 - GR9), taking the best from the original and Sea versions and combining them into one, would enter service with the RAF in 1989, and would eventually completely replace the older legacy and Sea Harriers as the primary multi-role fighter for both the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy. It was considered too immature to be used at the time of the First Gulf War but would eventually see its first action during the Bosnian War and continued to see extensive use in the Kosovo War, Afghanistan War, and Iraq War.

In 2009, the RAF retired the Harrier II in favor of the Eurofighter Typhoon. In 2011, the Royal Navy controversially decided to retire it as well, despite the fact that they had no other fixed wing carrier based aircraft to replace it with. The intention was to eventually purchase F-35 Lightning IIs from the US, but as of 2020, no sales have been finalized, and the UK's Naval fighter squadrons are effectively nonexistent.

The AV-8B remains the only Harrier still in service, and it continues to be used by the US Marine Corps as well as the Spanish and Italian Navies. The US Marines in particular have continued to use the AV-8B in every major conflict that they've participated in. In 2012, the Talban carried out an infiltration raid on Camp Bastion, a joint US/UK air base in Afghanistan's Helmand province. Before being defeated, the raiders managed to destroy six parked AV-8Bs and damage two others in one of the worst combat losses for US air power in modern times.

Description
US Navy F/A-18F Super Hornets from VFA-11 Strike Fighter Squadron (The Red Rippers, first formed in 1950) and UK Royal Navy Harrier II GR9s from 800 Naval Air Squadron (formed in 1933, one of the longest serving carrier based squadrons in history) participating in a joint exercise over the North Sea near the English Coast.

Commission done by Jetfreak-7

Despite a rather rocky and bloody start in 1775 to 1783, a particularly nasty setback from 1812 to 1815 and an inconvenient squabble in 1956, the alliance between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain (AND Northern Ireland... for the moment, anyway) has grown to become one of the closest and most geo-politically important relationships of the modern world. The two nations fought alongside each other to momentously great effect in both the European AND Pacific theaters of the Second World War (many in the US forget the crucial role the British played during the Philippines and Okinawa campaigns) as well as the Korean War, First Gulf War and Kosovo War (though the British would wisely stay out of the Vietnam War). The British also played a major role in NATO throughout the Cold War, despite the significant downsizing of their Armed Forces post WWII, and continue to do so to this day.

Things would unfortunately get pretty dark in the 21st Century. After the 9/11 Attacks, the US and UK militaries would continue to cooperate in the US led invasions/occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq (not so wise, especially the latter), the NATO bombing campaign to oust Muammar Gaddafi from power in Libya and the US lead efforts to oust Bashar al-Assad from power in Syria (yeah, those turned out great, didn't they?). They would also eventually aid in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria together. In addition, it has unfortunately been reported that both US and UK special forces units have been on the ground in Yemen, aiding the Royal Saudi Armed Forces and their Jihadist Sunni proxies (including Al Qaeda) in their horrific genocidal campaign against the Shia Houthis.

It is clear that the "Special Relationship" as it's come to be called will last long into the future, for better or for worse. Hopefully, there will be no US led wars against Iran or Venezuela in the coming years.

Now that all that dark stuff is out of the way, let's move on to the good and fun stuff!

The F/A-18 Hornet was the first modern multi-role carrier based strike fighter of the 4th Generation and one of the first fighter aircraft to include "fly by wire" controls (electronic interface controls that allows pilots to focus less on actually flying and more on other tasks). A joint project between MacDonald Douglas (before being bought out by Boeing) and Northrop (before the merge with Grumman), it was originally meant to be a replacement for the US Navy's aging A-4 Skyhawk and F-4 Phantom fleets. However, with the added pressure from the US Congress in the 1970s to find a low cost substitute for the F-14 Tomcat interceptor, it was decided that more air to air combat features would be added.

The Hornet entered service with the US Marine Corps in 1983 and US Navy in 1984. It saw it's first action performing suppression of enemy air defenses in Operation El Dorado Canyon, the 1986 US bombing of Libya in (an arguably over excessive) retaliation for the terrorist bombing of a West Berlin nightclub that killed two US servicemen. During the First Gulf War in 1991, two F/A-18s (piloted by Lt. Commander Mark Fox and Lt. Nick Mongilio respectively) would each shoot down one Iraqi MiG-21. These were the Hornet's first ever air to air kills, and would mark the first time in history that strike fighters successfully shot down enemy aircraft while still carrying a full load of bombs. Also, the first US casualty of the conflict would be a Hornet pilot, Lt. Commander Scott Speicher, shot down and killed by an Iraqi MiG-25 on the first night of hostilities.

The slightly larger, heavier and more advanced F/A-18E/F Super Hornet would first enter service with the US Navy in 1997 and would achieve initial operating capacity in 2001, just in time for the US invasion of Afghanistan. However, it would not end up seeing it's first real action until 2002, where two Super Hornets would participate in the bombing of the Talill Air Base in Iraq as part of Operation: Southern Watch. That mission also marked the first ever use of a 2,000 pound JDAM bomb in live combat. In 2017, the Super Hornet (piloted by Lt Cmd. Michael Tremel) would get it's first and so far only air to air kill in the skies over Syria against a Syrian Arab Air Force Su-22 that had just bombed US backed Kurdish fighters in the town of Ja'Din. This also marked the first shoot down of a manned aircraft by a US fighter pilot since the 1999 Kosovo War.

Collectively, the F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet represented a strong plurality of the US Military's fighter jet fleet throughout the 2000s and 2010s, with over a thousand air-frames in active service. In late 2019 however, the US Navy finally retired it's older legacy Hornets, keeping only the newer Super Hornets in service. The US Marine Corps on the other hand, has never adopted the Super Hornet and plans to keep on using the legacy Hornet until at least the 2030s. It should also be noted that the older legacy Hornet to this day remains the backbone in a number of other country's Air Forces, including Canada's, Australia's, Spain's, and Kuwait's. As of 2020, it has been reported that the German Air Force is looking to procurer Super Hornets to replace its old fleet of Panavia Tornadoes, though that has been disputed.

The Harrier Jump Jet was the first ever fixed wing aircraft to successfully achieve V/STOL (vertical/short takeoff and landing) capability. Originally conceived by now defunct Hawker Siddeley (with a little bit of cooperation from MacDonald Douglas) as a primarily ground attack aircraft, the Harrier first entered service with the Royal Air Force in 1969 and would become one of the British Military's most iconic warplanes. In 1978, British Aerospace would introduce the Sea Harrier, a carrier based Naval version with more emphasis on air to air capabilities due to the added fleet defense role. The Sea Harrier would see extensive use with the Indian Navy as well. The United States would eventually purchase the rights for MacDonald Douglas to manufacture the AV-8B, their own carrier based version the Harrier for the US Marines, though with the ground attack being the main focus just like the original British version. The latter entered service with the USMC in 1981 and achieved initial operating capacity in 1985.

In 1982, the Sea Harrier would be the first of the three types to see combat when Argentina invaded the British controlled but long disputed Falkland/Malvina Islands. Sea Harriers would provide the main air defense for the British task force that that came to reclaim the territory (as well participating in ground attacks) and would be credited for shooting down twenty Argentine aircraft in air to air combat while suffering no air to air losses themselves. Two Sea Harriers would be lost to ground fire though, and four to accidents. A number of RAF Harrier GR3s would also participate in the war. They'd been hastily modified for carrier use and even fitted with air to air missiles in case the Sea Harriers were lost, but they would end up exclusively being used for ground attack missions. Four would be lost in combat.

Interestingly, no British Harriers would participate in the First Gulf War. The US's AV-8B Harrier however, would undergo its trial by fire taking out Iraqi artillery positions in Kuwait during the opening phase of hostilities and would play a crucial role throughout much of the conflict. Five would be lost to Iraqi surface to air missiles.

The new and improved Harrier IIs (GR5 - GR9), taking the best from the original and Sea versions and combining them into one, would enter service with the RAF in 1989, and would eventually completely replace the older legacy and Sea Harriers as the primary multi-role fighter for both the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy. It was considered too immature to be used at the time of the First Gulf War but would eventually see its first action during the Bosnian War and continued to see extensive use in the Kosovo War, Afghanistan War, and Iraq War.

In 2009, the RAF retired the Harrier II in favor of the Eurofighter Typhoon. In 2011, the Royal Navy controversially decided to retire it as well, despite the fact that they had no other fixed wing carrier based aircraft to replace it with. The intention was to eventually purchase F-35 Lightning IIs from the US, but as of 2020, no sales have been finalized, and the UK's Naval fighter squadrons are effectively nonexistent.

The AV-8B remains the only Harrier still in service, and it continues to be used by the US Marine Corps as well as the Spanish and Italian Navies. The US Marines in particular have continued to use the AV-8B in every major conflict that they've participated in. In 2012, the Talban carried out an infiltration raid on Camp Bastion, a joint US/UK air base in Afghanistan's Helmand province. Before being defeated, the raiders managed to destroy six parked AV-8Bs and damage two others in one of the worst combat losses for US air power in modern times.