Harpoon
Harpoon Block II expands the capabilities of the Harpoon anti-ship
weapon. Harpoon, the world's most successful anti-ship missile,
features autonomous, all-weather, over-the-horizon
capability.
Harpoon Block II provides accurate long-range guidance for land and
ship targets by incorporating the low-cost inertial measuring unit
from the Boeing Joint Direct Attack Munition, or JDAM, program; and
the software, mission computer, integrated Global Positioning
System/Inertial Navigation System and the GPS antenna and receiver
from the Standoff Land Attack Missile Expanded Response, or
SLAM-ER.
Harpoon Block II is capable of executing both land-strike and
anti-ship missions. To strike targets on land and ships in port,
the missile uses GPS-aided inertial navigation to hit a designated
target aimpoint. The 500-pound blast warhead delivers lethal
firepower against a wide variety of land-based targets, including
coastal defense sites, surface-to-air missile sites, exposed
aircraft, port/industrial facilities and ships in port. For
conventional anti-ship missions, such as open ocean or near-land,
the GPS/INS improves midcourse guidance to the target area. The
accurate navigation solution allows users to discriminate target
ships from islands or other nearby land masses or ships. These
Block II improvements maintain Harpoon's high hit probability even
against ships very close to land.
The multi-mission Block II is deployable from all current Harpoon
missile system platforms with either existing command and launch
equipment or the new Advanced Harpoon Weapon Control System, or
AHWCS.
Block II is in production at Boeing facilities in St. Charles,
Mo.
Updated Dec. 2001
http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/missiles/harpoon/harpoon_back.htm
