Harriers Hit in Kandahar

GR7A at Kandahar
(with Paveway bombs)

On August 12, 2005, DID covered the performance and operations of the RAF’s GR7 Harrier II jets in Afghanistan. Now Britain’s Telegraph reports that one RAF Harrier was destroyed on the ground and another has been damaged, after a rocket attack hit their military airfield at Kandahar in the south of the country.

The damaged aircraft is apparently being repaired, while the destroyed aircraft was replaced by another fighter which left Britain on October 14, 2005. Current plans call for more than 3,500 British troops to be deployed into the south of Afghanistan around April 2006, in order to launch operations against opium barons, Taliban/al-Qaeda forces, and the significant subset who are both of these at once. (Hat Tip: GBAD.org)