Sea Harrier logic makes the hull and mission grow

A supersonic Harrier offers one possible reason to lengthen the flight deck and enlarge Invincible, although it is not the route chosen for the main counterfactual. The aircraft also serves British industrial and diplomatic aims because a carrier can display V/STOL technology to potential export customers. Land-based Harrier development was supported by concern that fixed airfields would be early wartime targets and by its value to the British Army of the Rhine. At sea, the aircraft could identify contacts in grey-zone conditions before the fleet fired, while later weapons planning expanded toward air defence, anti-ship strike, and beyond-visual-range combat. Both the original radar and the later Blue Vixen had genuine utility, although Blue Vixen offered much stronger capability. The larger ship therefore grows from an aircraft-and-mission pathway grounded in contemporary programs rather than from a clean-sheet wish list.