• Maverick D replaced the electro-optical guidance with an imaging infrared system which doubled the practical firing distance and allowed for its use at night and during bad weather. A reduced smoke rocket engine was also introduced in this model. It achieved its initial operation capability in 1983.

• Maverick E uses a laser designator guidance system optimized for fortified installations and heavier penetrating blast-fragmentation warhead (140 kg (300 lb) vs. 57 kg (125 lb) in older models). It achieved IOC in 1985 and was used mainly by USMC aviation.

• Maverick G model essentially has the same guidance system as the D with some software modification that enables the pilot to track larger targets. The G model's major difference is its heavier penetrator warhead taken from the Maverick E, compared to the D model's shaped-charge warhead. It completed tests in 1988.

• Maverick H model is an AGM-65B/D missile upgraded with a new charge-coupled device (CCD) seeker better suited for the desert environment.

• Maverick K model is an AGM-65G upgraded with the CCD seeker; at least 1,200, but possibly up to 2,500 AGM-65G rounds are planned for conversion to AGM-65K standard.^[2]

• Fixed-wing aircraft (the AGM-84, without the solid-fuel rocket booster)

Harpoon Block 1D[edit]

This version featured a larger fuel tank and re-attack capability, but was not produced in large numbers because its intended mission (warfare with the Warsaw Pact countries of Eastern Europe) was considered to be unlikely following the events of 1991–92. Range is 278 kilometres (173 mi). Block 1D missiles were designated RGM/AGM-84F.

Developed in only 48 months, a number of SLAMs were successfully employed during the Persian Gulf War, when it struck Iraqi coastal targets. Also, the SLAM was used successfully in F/A-18 Hornet and A-6 Intruder air strikes during Operation Desert Storm even before official operational testing of the new missile had begun.^[2]The SLAM was also used during United Nations air raids in Bosnia before "Operation Joint Endeavor".^[1]

In the year 2000, the SLAM was replaced in service by the AGM-84H SLAM-ER(Standoff Land Attack Missile Expanded Response), which had numerous new capabilities including increased target penetration and nearly twice the range of the older AGM-84E SLAM.^[1]

Description[edit]

The AGM-88 can detect, attack and destroy a radar antenna or transmitter with minimal aircrew input. The proportional guidance system that homes in on enemy radar emissions has a fixed antenna and seeker head in the missile's nose. A smokeless, solid-propellant, booster-sustainer rocket motor propels the missile at speeds over Mach 2. HARM, a U.S. Navy-led program, was initially integrated onto the A-6E, A-7 and F/A-18 and later onto the EA-6B. RDT&E for use on the F-14 was begun, but not completed. The USAF introduced HARM on the F-4G Wild Weaseland later on specialized F-16s equipped with the HARM Targeting System (HTS). The HTS pod, used by the USAF only, allows F-16 to detect and automatically target radars with HARMs instead of relying on the missile sensor alone.

Description[edit]

The Hellfire can be fired from rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft, waterborne vessels and land-based systems against a variety of targets.

Most variants are laser guided with one, AGM-114L "Longbow Hellfire", being radar guided.^[4][5] Laser guidance can be provided either from the launcher, such as the nose-mounted opto-electronics of the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, other airborne target designators or from ground-based observers, the latter two options allowing the launcher to break line of sight with the target and seek cover.^[6]

AGM-154C (unitary variant)[edit]

The AGM-154C uses an Imaging Infrared (IIR) terminal seeker with autonomous guidance. The AGM-154C carries the BROACH warhead. This two stage warhead is made up from a WDU-44 shaped augmenting warhead and a WDU-45 follow through bomb. The weapon is designed to attack hardened targets. It entered service with the US Navy in February 2005.

Production and upgrades[edit]

Full rate production started on December 29, 1999. In June 2000 Raytheon was contracted to develop an enhanced electronics package for the JSOW to prevent electronic spoofing of GPS signals. This ultimately resulted in the JSOW Block II weapon, incorporating multiple cost reduction initiatives in addition to the Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM) capability. JSOW Block II was scheduled to begin production in March 2007.

The JSOW contains a modular control and deployment interface that allows future enhancement and additional configurations since it is likely that additional variants will emerge. The basic airframe is advertised as a "truck" and the JSOW-as-a-truck capability is widely advertised. Raytheon has placed a tremendous investment in the JSOW program and will certainly try to extend the Department of Defense contracts for as long as possible with system upgrades and repackagings for new missions and targets.

Existing stocks of Sidearm have been depleted, and the missile is no longer in service. Proposals for new-build missiles, under the designation AGM-122B, have not been proceeded with to date.

The AGM-122 was less capable than newer antiradiation missiles, such as the AGM-88 HARM, but also substantially cheaper, and its lighter weight enabled it to be carried by combat helicopters as well as fighter aircraft and fighter bombers.

The HOT entered limited production in 1976, with mass production of 800 missiles a month reached in 1978. The HOT became initially operational with the German and French armies fitted to specialized armored antitank vehicles. In addition, Euromissile was in the enviable position of having large export orders from Middle East nations at the start of mass production.^[2] This was likely due to the situation in the late 1970s where many nations did not want to rely solely on arms purchases from the USSR combined with the US Congress restrictions on the export sales of the TOW antitank missile.

In Europe, the end of the service life of the HOT missile system is in sight with the French opting to purchase Hellfire II missiles for their Tiger-HAD attack helicopters^[3] and the Germans planning to transition to the PARS 3 LR. Austria has decommissioned its HOT-carrying tank destroyers, while Spain is transitioning to Spike missiles to replace their HOT missile inventory. The HOT missile continues to be in widespread use in other areas of the world.

• RB-04E: Further development of the D version to suit the new AJ37 Viggen strike aircraft. The missile had a shorter wingspan and improved guidance system and new monopulse radar seeker, which allowed sea-skimming approaches. This version was highly resistant to ECM and would automatically lock on especially powerful jamming signals.

History[edit]

The Swedish Navy pioneered anti-ship missiles with the Halland-class destroyers using the RB08 missile since the early 1960s. The main effect of Swedens defence resolution of 1958 for the Swedish navy was restructuring into a lighter force consisting of fast attack craft (FAC) vessels and a halt to destroyer procurement. This posed a problem as the existing RB08 missile required launch rails and a missile magazine in the destroyers, taking up space that was not there on smaller ships. Adding to the problems, each missile had to be individually prepared for launch and only two missiles could be on the launch rails at the same time. In comparison, the P-15 Termit (NATO codename Styx) missile used by the Soviet Union (which was the expected adversary) stored the missiles in individual containers on deck which left the missiles immediately available for launch. Tests were carried out on Plejad class FACs with a single bow-mounted RB08 in the late 1960s, but they came to nothing.

Sea Eagle[edit]

Sea Eagle on the right, next to a Martel in the center. The similarity of the designs is evident.

These developments all suggested the TV-guided Martel was no longer competitive, and a series of studies during 1973 to 1975 came up with specifications for its replacement. This was known as Air Staff Target (AST) 1226 in the Air Force, and Naval Staff Target (NST) 6451 in the Navy. This called for a missile with greater range than Ship Martel, which required the switch to a jet engine. Hawker Siddeley submitted a design using the Marconi seeker and a more highly modified version of the Martel airframe. This would have the advantage of being able to be fired from any aircraft already able to fire the TV guided Martel.^[5]

Design of the P3T began in 1976, with full scale development initiated in 1979. Although the resulting design looked like the Martel, almost all components differ, with a longer body, larger wings and totally different internal components. A ship-launched version, the P5T Sea Eagle SL, was proposed in 1981. This added two solid-fuel boosters on either side of the missile body, but was otherwise similar to the P3T. It was designed to be fired from its sealed shipping box. The same box was used for the proposed Lightweight Sea Dart, allowing a ship to carry either or both on the same launcher. One advantage to the SL version over competing designs was that it could be fired at very close targets, while most designs, like Harpoon and Exocet, had a fairly long minimum range.^[6] Another advantage was that the same missile could be fired from helicopters, like the original Martel, as the rockets could launch it away from the helicopter even at very low altitudes without needing high forward speed to allow the small wings to maintain altitude.^[7]

Production of the finished production weapon began in 1982, around the same time that the name Sea Eagle was bestowed, with test firings up to 1984 and service introduction the following year. The RAF Buccaneer was the first aircraft to carry a Sea Eagle in active service. This was followed by the Royal Navy's Sea Harrier, as well as the Tornado GR1B in the RAF (replacing Buccaneers) and Royal Saudi Air Force. The Indian Navy also equipped its Sea Harrier FRS Mk.51 and Jaguar IM with the missile, as well as twenty Sea King Mk.42B helicopters, using a version with two booster rockets either side of the rear fuselage. Indian Ilyushin Il-38 maritime patrol aircraft were also equipped with the rocket-boosted version of the missile, carried on unusual side-fuselage pylons aft of each wing. It has also been reported that India sought to equip its Tupolev Tu-142 fleet with the missile. The Chilean Air Force has trial fitted its A-36M Halcon (CASA 101 Aviojet) with the missile, but it is unclear if this combination entered service. Several variants of the BAE Hawk trainer/light fighter have carried the missile on trials.

The Sea Eagle was withdrawn from service with the RAF and Royal Navy by 2000.^[8]

AGM-154A (baseline JSOW)[edit]

The warhead of the AGM-154A consists of 145 BLU-97/B Combined Effects Bomb (CEB) submunitions. These bomblets have a shaped charge for armor defeating capability, a fragmenting case for material destruction, and a zirconium ring for incendiary effects.

Walleye II, "Fat Albert"[edit]

An A-6E Intruder releasing a Walleye II during testing at NAWC Pax River, 1994.

To correct this major deficiency, China Lake developed a 2,000-pound version of the bomb, and deployed it to Vietnam in time for President Richard Nixon's Linebacker raids against Hanoi and Haiphong. The new Walleye II, or “Fat Albert” as it was nicknamed after the cartoon character, officially designated Guided Weapon Mk 5,^[2] had an extended range data link and could hit targets up to 45 nautical miles (83 km) from its launch point. On 27 April 1972, a flight of eight Air Force fighters, two carrying 2000-pound laser-guided bombs and two carrying Walleye IIs, attacked the Thanh Hoa Bridge. Cloud cover prevented the LGBs from being used, but five of the Walleyes locked on, causing heavy damage to the bridge, even though failing to bring down a span. On 13 May, the Air Force finally brought down the bridge with 3,000 and 2,000-pound LGBs. The Vietnamese, however, soon repaired the bridge, compelling the Navy and Air Force to fly 13 more missions against the target. On one such mission on 23 October, four VA-82 and VA-86 A-7C Corsair II pilots from the carrier USS America took down the bridge with a combination of Walleye IIs and conventional 2000-pound bombs.^[1]

Guided Weapon Mk 6 was a nuclear version of the Walleye II, using a W72 warhead of 625 tonnes (615 long tons; 689 short tons) yield; no nuclear Walleye IIs are known to have been actually completed.^[2] Versions with an extended-range data link were designated in the Mk 20 series.^[2]

• Maverick F, designed specially for United States Navy, it uses a modified Maverick D infrared guidance system optimized for tracking ships fitted onto a Maverick-E body and warhead.

• Maverick L model incorporates a laser-guided seeker that allows for designation by the launch aircraft, another aircraft, or a ground source and can engage small, fast moving, and maneuvering targets on land and at sea.

Description[edit]

The Hellfire can be fired from rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft, waterborne vessels and land-based systems against a variety of targets.

Most variants are laser guided with one, AGM-114L "Longbow Hellfire", being radar guided.^[4][5] Laser guidance can be provided either from the launcher, such as the nose-mounted opto-electronics of the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, other airborne target designators or from ground-based observers, the latter two options allowing the launcher to break line of sight with the target and seek cover.^[6]

Although originally designed as an anti-ship missile, the missile was eventually developed into an air-to-surface missile that can engage various targets. When used as an anti-ship missile, its intended targets are boats with 180 ton displacement or less, such as missile or torpedo armed FAC, patrol boats, and gunboats.

There are two types of guidance: the Fire-and-forget mode and the command mode. The first type of guidance enables the aircraft/boats/vehicles to get out after launching, providing greater safety while the second type enables the operator to change targets after launching, or to terminate the attack if needed. The television seeker of the missile can be replaced by either an imaging infrared seeker or a millimetre-wave radar seeker. A version with a radar seeker (not the millimetre-wave radar seeker) designated as C-701R has also been displayed in public.