American combat aircraft AV-8B Harrier II PLUS COBI 5809 - Armed Forces

You know that:

• The fighter was developed in the 1970s as a successor to the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, which cost a staggering $6.5 billion to develop at the time ?
• The Harrier was in production for 22 years until 2003 ?
• The first prototype version of the AV-8B flew on November 9, 1978, hovering for about 7 minutes over the Lambert-St. Louis airfield after a perpendicular takeoff ?
• Harrier series aircraft were the first to be equipped with the perpendicular takeoff capability now known as VTOL ?
• The new generation of Harriers had digital instruments and such different flight characteristics from its predecessor that RAF Command had to reduce the number of units ordered to make enough money to completely and laboriously retrain the pilots ?
• The main combat purpose of the Harrier is direct support of ground forces and, in the case of naval forces, fleet defence against enemy aircraft ?
• The aircraft also has control jets on the tail, nose and wingtips to increase manoeuvrability at low speeds ?
• Harriers are extremely demanding aircraft to pilot during takeoff and landing, where most accidents have occurred, 3 times more than, for example, the F/A-18 ?
• The fighter is equipped with in-flight refueling technology ?
• The wings are made of modern carbon fiber technology ?
• During the Gulf War, Harriers made 3,380 combat sorties ?
• The aircraft, which are in the armament of several armies, will be laid down by at least 2025 ?

Technical parameters:

• Dimensions, wingspan 9.24 m, length 14.12 m, height 3.55 m
• Take-off weight 10 410 kg (max. 14 100 kg)
• Engine Rolls-Royce Pegasus F402-RR-408 twin-jet engine with 105 kN 
• Maximum speed 1 083 km/h
• Operational radius 556 km
• Maximum range 3 300 km (with additional tanks)
• Climb rate 4 481 m/min.
• Fuel tank capacity 3 519 kg
• Armament 25 mm GAU-12 Equalizer rotary cannon with 300 rounds of ammunition and 6 underwing slings for Sidewinder, AMRAAM, Maverick, or Harpoon missiles
• crew 1 person

Below you'll find assembly instructions that give an idea of the difficulty (kids usually have no problem:-), or in case the original instructions included in each package get lost. It will also help if you are in doubt about what all the pack contains. This service is brought to you exclusively by COBISHOP.CZ