Task Force Harrier / Task Force Harrier EX
North American cover art
Developer(s)	NMK (arcade)[4] Jorudan (console)[3]
Publisher(s)	UPL, Sammy (arcade)[1] Treco (console)[3]
Composer(s)	Tenpei Sato[3]
Platform(s)	Arcade, Mega Drive/Genesis[3]
Release	Arcade August 1989[1] Mega Drive/Genesis NA: 1991[3] JP: December 20, 1991[2]
Genre(s)	Scrolling shooter[3]
Mode(s)	Single-player

Task Force Harrier^[a] is a vertical scrolling shooter video game developed by NMK and released for arcades in 1989 by UPL in Japan and by American Sammy in North America. It was ported to the Mega Drive/Genesis as Task Force Harrier EX^[b] in 1991.

Gameplay

The game is a conventional scrolling shooter, in which your mission is to penetrate a hostile communist military force situated inside Russian territory.^[5] The player takes control of a Harrier fighter jet with two types of main weapons.^[5] The first type can only shoot flying opponents, such as enemy planes and copters; the second, a bomb-type weapon, can only hit ground enemies, such as tanks and turrets.^[5] The player can also acquire escorts to increase firepower.^[5] Changing the formation of the escort fighters results in different shot patterns and also affects the maneuvering speed.^[5]