was planned. These were very carefully and politically designated as cruisers, deliberately avoiding the term "aircraft carrier" to increase the chances of funding in a hostile political climate against expensive capital ships. The resulting carriers were considerably smaller than the CVA-01 design, but came to be widely recognised as aircraft carriers. Almost immediately upon their construction, a ski-jump was added to the end of the 170-metre deck, enabling the carriers to effectively operate a small number of V/STOL jets. The naval staff were able to build an effective political argument for acquiring V/STOL aircraft, on the grounds that anti-submarine groups operating in the NATO Atlantic area, the intended main role of the through deck cruisers, would be vulnerable to attack by Soviet anti-ship missiles. These could be launched at a considerable distance by a submarine or surface ship, but needed to be guided in by a maritime patrol aircraft; fast jets carried onboard would be able to shoot these down. No mention was made of the other capabilities that these aircraft would have. The Royal Air Force's Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR1s had entered service in April 1969. A navalised variant of the Harrier was developed by Hawker Siddeley to serve on the upcoming ships; this became the Sea Harrier. In 1975, the Royal Navy ordered 24 Sea Harrier FRS.1 (standing for 'Fighter, Reconnaissance, Strike') aircraft, the first of which entered service in 1978. During this time Hawker Siddeley became part of British Aerospace through nationalisation in 1977. By the time the prototype Sea Harrier was flown at Dunsfold on 20 August 1978, the order had been increased to 34. The Sea Harrier was declared operational in 1981 on board the first Invincible-class ship , and further aircraft joined the ageing aircraft carrier later that year. In 1984, approval was given to upgrade of the fleet to FRS.2 standard (later known as FA2) following the lessons learned during the aircraft's deployment in the 1982 Falklands War. The first flight of the prototype took place in September 1988 and a contract was signed for 29 upgraded aircraft in December that year. In 1990, the Navy ordered 18 new-build FA2s, at a unit cost of around £12 million, four further upgraded aircraft were ordered in 1994. The first aircraft was delivered on 2 April 1993. Design The Sea Harrier is a subsonic aircraft designed for strike, reconnaissance and fighter roles. It features a