Very cool article.
The Germans were involved in the initial Harrier precursor – the Hawker Siddley P.1127 Kestrel and was part of the Tri-partite Evaluation Squadron.
But instead of Harriers they brought Tornados and Alpha Jets.
As the article states, the assumption in the 1970s was more conventional warfare, not nuclear warfare.
There was also a big push towards hardening airbases – hardened air shelters, underground storage, more efficient runways lay outs etc.
Hence it was viewed that conventional airbases were far more survivable.
Merely cratering a runway would be just a short glitch and one could resume operations quickly.
Obviously 1991 showed that hardened airbases wouldn't withstand modern guided munitions.
Iraq had some superb high quality airbases too built by the British and Yugoslavs. These were called Super Bases.
Article on Iraqi Super Bases:
acig.org/artman/publish/article_377.shtml
