The UK Sold the US Marine Corps 72 Harrier Jump Jets for $180,000,000 So They Could Break Them Apart for Spare Parts

In November 2011, the UK sold 72 retired AV-8 Harrier jump jets to the US Marine Corps for £110 million (about $180 million), a price of roughly $2.5 million per aircraft. The deal was intended to support spare-parts supply: the US Marine Corps would use the airframes and Rolls-Royce engines to keep its own AV-8B Harrier fleet flying. The UK had retired its Harrier fleet in 2010 as part of the Strategic Defense and Security Review to cut costs and fund newer platforms like the Typhoon and the F-35. Officials defended the low sale price as a pragmatic choice that avoided storage expenses and generated revenue, citing wider defence-budget pressure, including the need to finance the Queen Elizabeth-class carriers already under construction. The aircraft were based at Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona.