This is a fictional version of the Harrier - to quote Tang0five;

"...a hypothetical upgrade. One where the Mod and gov had a bit of sense...."

The BAe Harrier GRX (X meaning 10 in this case - I thought the "X" made the name cooler...)

Some "modern" features are included, such as radar absorbing paint, "stealth" air intakes (replacing the huge "elephant ears"), a more powerful Rolls-Royce Pegasus power plant, allowing for a larger war load, internal countermeasures system, a stronger wing, with more hard points, larger internal fuel capacity, rotary cannon pods, wing tip AIM9 rails and finally a RADAR suite that allows for both AMRAAM and AIM9 to be carried together (something that the USMC's AV-8B + actually has today).

Controls;

Anyway - the controls;

*NOTE! The throttle position will depend on the load out - now that the Harrier has gained 5 stores points, you can load her with all sorts of interesting explosives. The % figures given here are ballpark - ish figures, as it were.

AG1 - Unlock / Lock thrust vectoring nozzles
AG2 - Unlock / Lock nose and wingtip landing gear
AG3 - Lights
AG4 - trigger (dumb fire) wing tip rails and centre line store point
AG5 - Ditch outer stores,
AG6 - Ditch mid outer and inner wing stores
AG7 - Ditch mid outer stores (*"modern" bombs need t be ditched - they cannot be fired individually)
AG8 - VTOL stability assist system on / off

So - VTOL take off procedure goes like this;

1. Ensure AG 1 and AG8 are active.
2. Using the vtol slider, set the nozzles perpendicular to the ground (note that this bird has a definite nose up stance on the ground)
3. Throttle to 25-30%
4. You are now taking off. Vertically! Use yaw / roll / trim to keep on top of yaw / roll and pitch attitude)
5. Use trim slider to correct pitch and if hovering to stay level
6. Set vtol slider to neutral.
7. Deactivate AG1
8. Activate AG2
9. Set vtol full down to retract gear. Also activate regular landing gear control to retract main gear.
10. Deactivate AG2 and set vtol to neutral
11. Activate AG1

By now you shoudl be hovering at 2000,ft with the gear up.

Now - time to transition to conventional flight! This is actually quite easy.
Following on form step 11 above - gradually move the vtol slider down to rotate the thrust nozzles, whilst using trim to correct the pitch. Once you are at around 180 - 200 mph with the thrust nozzles fully rotated aft, just deactivate AG1 and AG8 - now you are flying. Really flying.

Landing - For conventional landing it shoudl be as simple as activating AG2, setting VTOL to neutral and hitting "gear" to lower the main gear. Then land her gently as you would any other conventional jet.

For vertical landing, you need to;

1. Set throttle to 20-25% & activate AG1 and AG8
2. Use thrust nozzles (vtol slider) to brake down to 30 -50 mph
3. Set vtol to neutral
4. Now you are hovering again.
5. Deactivate AG1, Activate AG2. This shoudl drop the nose and wingtip gear - hit "gear" to drop the main gear.
6. Deactivate AG2. Activate AG1.
7. Use pitch slider to control pitch and also any fore / aft creep (i.e. keep her hovering over the target. (vtol slider can also be used)
8. Set throttle to 20% and begin descent.
9. Good luck!

Now go blow stuff up. Vertically! Hypothetically!