The Sea Harrier was developed just in time to take part in the Falklands War, where it flew from the decks of HMS Invincible & HMS Hermes. This was at a time when aircraft carriers were still considered obsolete by the UK, & so the Fleet Air Arm only had 'through deck cruisers' to fly from. This meant that the Harrier was the only fixed-wing carrier aircraft (apart from the Yak-38 'Forger') which could operate from such a ship. The Sea Harrier started development in 1975. The Harrier was an attack aircraft originally, & lacked a radar. The Sea Harrier would need a radar, & so 'Blue Fox' was selected. The nose had to be lengthened to accommodate the radar, & the cockpit was raised to provide an all-round view. Unlike the original Harrier, the Sea Harrier would also be able to perform in the fighter role. The first Sea Harrier FRS.1 (FRS meaning Fighter, Reconnaissance, Strike) was handed over to the Fleet Air Arm on the 18th of June, 1979.

The Sea Harrier was extremely successful in the Falklands, where the 28 FRS.1s, aboard the Hermes & Invincible flew over 2,000 sorties, reporting kills of at least 20 enemy aircraft, to no loss of their own. The first kill was made by Flight Lieutenant Paul Barton of No.801 Squadron against a Dassault-Breguet Mirage III. The Mirage III's pilots were poorly trained, especially in air-to-air combat, & as a result had no chance against the well-organised, well-trained British pilots. Indeed, most of the Argentine pilots did not realise they were being attacked until they were hit by the Sidewinders of the British pilots.

The Fleet Air Arm's Sea Harrier force was updated to FA.2 standard in 1992. The FA.2 upgrade programme's primary objective was to give the Sea Harrier the capability to engage multiple beyond-visual-range targets with the AIM-120 AMRAAM. The most notable changes in the design are the Ferranti 'Blue Vixen' pulse-Doppler track-while-scan radar, a redesigned HUD, dual head-down displays, the Marconi Sky Guardian Radar Warning Receiver, two additional missile launch rails & the new Aden 25 cannon.

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