 The SR.N1 participated in the test programme for four years prior to its retirement, by which point it had served its purpose in successfully validating the concept and further hovercraft had been developed.In less than four years following the SR.N1's maiden flight, multiple hovercraft were being designed and produced by several companies in the United Kingdom, as well as in Japan by Mitsubishi Shipbuilding & Engineering under a license given by Westland Aircraft.During the 1950s, British manufacturing firm Saunders-Roe was diversifying in various new fields and product lines; this had been in part due to urgency having been placed on seeking alternative projects to take the place of the cancelled Saunders-Roe SR.177 interceptor aircraft.