One would be hard pressed to argue against the Harrier. It is an aircraft that, in its AV-8B form, has performed at or beyond the expectations of the Marine Corps. What was needed was an aircraft that did not need to be deployed on a large carrier and was capable of performing the mission required, which has always been support of the Marines on the ground. It will be interesting to see if the F-35 will be as competent.

The Harrier's ability to take off from short runways or vertically from helo carriers as well as being able to carry a very useful warload, made from weapons that range from a 25mm gun to all of the latest air to ground weapons, has proven its worth time and time again.

In this edition of Osprey's Combat Aircraft series, we look at the deployments during their use in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom, which ironically, will probably not result in that for the people of this nation.  As frequently happens nowadays when the US (or any other nation) gets involved in the Middle East, things do not turn out as expected, but in this case, it will not be from lack of effort. Thanks to the rugged terrain that coalition forces were generally fighting over, an air strike was the only viable way of getting to the bad guys before they scattered into the population.

This book is on the various Harrier II deployments during a dozen years and is separated into periods of a couple of years. I dare say that just about all if not all non-training USMC AV-8B units participated at some time or another. Some as part of a helo air group and some sent straight in. The vast majority of these planes were the radar equipped 'plus' variant with some early deployments using the older 'night attack' versions. One thing I did notice is that many of the aircraft were a lot more colorful than the norm as the years progressed.

Typical of books like this, you are immediately immersed in jargon. Each time a word or phrase of jargon is used, you are told what it is, but for those of us who do not keep up with this sort of thing, it can very much detract from the complete understanding of what is going on. I guess it is just the nature of the beast as I run into this sort of thing whenever a modern aircraft is the subject of one of these books.

As with other books in this series, there is some background history on the AV-8B and the reason it was sent into combat. Since this book is by the same author that did the OIF Harrier book, it is not surprising that it follows a similar format. We get a diary format of each of the units and some of their more interesting missions. This is enhanced by photos, most of them in full color and from official sources, though it is nice to see some that are not. There are also multiple pages of full color profiles of the aircraft that were involved with explanations that include units, bases and time periods.

In all, it adds to the growing collection of books in this series. I found it be an interesting read and anyone who likes the AV-8B or this period of history should pick this one up.

August 2014

 For more on the complete line of Osprey books, visit www.ospreypublishing.com or contact them at Osprey Direct, PO Box 140, Wellingborough, Northants, NN8 2FA, UK. In the US, it is Osprey Direct at 44-02 23rd St, Suite 219, Long Island City, NY 11101., where you can get a catalogue of available books.

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and fairly quickly, please contact the editor or see other details in the Note to Contributors.