"Let me tell you about the Harrier jet. Either you loved it or hated it. It was a nice flyer and quite maneuverable. However, it's one hell of a b-tch landing it."
-Lt. Juan Vasquez, Paternian Air Force, 132nd Attack Wing

A license-produced variant of the Hawker-Siddney Harrier by McDonnel Douglas. The Harrier family is easily the most successful fixed-wing V/STOL aircraft in history. Exported widely and is a foreign-designed aircraft in service with the US military. Why is that special? Because US military procurement is typically biased towards American designs, and being able to sell a non-American design to the Americans is a real achievement in its own right. Especially when it replaces an American design (in this case, the A-4 Skyhawk in US Marine Corps service).

This aircraft in particular belongs to the fictional Paternian Navy, in a gray two-tone camouflage used since the 1970s. In Paternian service, the type was procured in 1969, with operational capability in 1970. The Paternian Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy employed the type until 2018, when the F-35B was operational. In both services, the aircraft was known as the "Widowmaker", due to its relativley high accident rate. This is due to the tricky nature of vertical takeoffs and landings. Usually, takeoffs were done on short runways but landings were done vertically.