In news– The United States Under Secretary of Defence for Policy has recently confirmed that the USA has supplied some “anti-radiation missiles”(AGM-88 HARM) to Ukraine, which could be fired from some Ukrainian Air Force aircraft.
About the missile-
- The acronym ‘HARM’ in the AGM-88 HARM air-to-surface missile stands for High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile.
- It is a tactical weapon fired from fighter aircraft, and has the capability to detect and home in on radiation emitted by hostile radar stations that have surface-to-air detection capabilities.
- The missile was originally developed by the Dallas-headquartered Texas Instruments, but is now produced by the major American defence contractor Raytheon Corporation.
- An advanced version of the weapon is manufactured by Dulles, Virginia-based Northrop Grumman.
- The missile is 14 metres in length, but only 10 inches in diameter.
- It weighs around 360 kg and carries a fragmentation type warhead that is optimised for radar targets.
- It also has an anti-radar homing seeker broadband RF antenna and receiver, and a solid state digital processor.
- The missile has a range of more than 100 km.
- A smokeless, solid-propellant, booster-sustainer rocket motor propels the missile at speeds over Mach 2.0.
- Several NATO aircraft in Europe including the Tornado ECR can fire the AGM-88 HARM missiles.
Source: The Indian Express
