Type Medium-range anti-ship missile
Place of origin France
Service history
In service 1979
Production history
Manufacturer MBDA
Specifications
Weight 670 kilograms (1,500 lb)
Length 4.7 metres (15 ft 5 in)
Diameter 34.8 centimetres (1 ft 1.7 in)
Warhead 165 kilograms (360 lb)
Engine solid propellant engine
turbojet (MM40 Block 3 version)
Wingspan 1.1 metres (3 ft 7 in)
Operational
range 70–180 kilometres (43–110 mi; 38–97 nmi)
Flight altitude Sea-skimming
Speed 315 metres per second (1,030 ft/s)
Guidance
system Inertial and active radar
Launch
platform multi-platform:
* MM38 surface-launched
* AM39 air-launched
* SM39 submarine-launched
* MM40 surface-launched
The Exocet is built by MBDA, a European missile company. Development began in 1967 by Nord as a ship-launched missile named MM 38. A few years later Aerospatiale and Nord merged. The basic missile body design was based on the Nord AS30 air to ground tactical missile. The air-launched Exocet was developed in 1974 and entered service with the French Navy five years later. The relatively compact missile is designed for attacking small- to medium-size warships (e.g. frigates, corvettes, and destroyers), although multiple hits are effective against larger vessels, such as aircraft carriers.It is guided inertially in mid-flight and turns on active radar late in its flight to find and hit its target. As a counter measure against the air defence around the target, it maintains a very low altitude during ingress, staying 1–2 m above the sea surface. Due to the effect of the radar horizon, this means that the target may not detect an incoming attack until the missile is only 6000 m from impact. This leaves little time for reaction and stimulated the design of CIWS.
2. Harpoon
Name Harpoon
Caption A Harpoon missile on display at the USS Bowfin museum at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Origin United States
Type Anti-ship missile
Manufacturer McDonnell Douglas Boeing Defense, Space & Security
Unit cost US$1,200,000 for Harpoon Block II
Service 1977–present
Engine Teledyne Turbojet/solid propellant booster for surface and submarine launch; greater than 600 pounds (greater than 272.2 kg) of thrust
Weight with booster
Length Air launched: ; Surface and submarine launched:
Diameter
Wingspan
Speed (240 m/s)
Vehicle range in excess of depending on launch platform
Altitude Sea-skimming
Filling
Guidance Sea-skimming cruise monitored by radar altimeter / active radar terminal homing
Launch platform multi-platform:
The Harpoon is an all-weather, over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile system, developed and manufactured by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing Defense, Space & Security). In 2004, Boeing delivered the 7,000th Harpoon unit since the weapon's introduction in 1977. The missile system has also been further developed into a land-strike weapon, the Standoff Land Attack Missile (SLAM).
The regular Harpoon uses active radar homing, and a low-level, sea-skimming cruise trajectory to improve survivability and lethality. The missile's launch platforms include:
· Fixed-wing aircraft (the AGM-84, without the solid-fuel rocket booster)
· Surface ships (the RGM-84, fitted with a solid-fuel rocket booster that detaches when expended, to allow the missile's main turbojet to maintain flight)
· Submarine (the UGM-84, fitted with a solid-fuel rocket booster and encapsulated in a container to enable submerged launch through a torpedo tube);
· Coastal defense batteries, from which it would be fired with a solid-fuel rocket booster.
The missile is comparable to the French-made Exocet missile, the Swedish RBS-15 missile, the Russian SS-N-25 Switchblade, the British Sea Eagle missile, and the Chinese Yingji.
3. Otomat
Type Medium-range anti-ship missile
Service history
In service 1977
Production history
Manufacturer MBDA
Specifications
Weight 770 kg with booster
Length 4.46 m
Diameter 0.4 m
Warhead 210 kg
Detonation
mechanism Impact and proximity
Engine Turbojet engine
Operational
range 180+ km
Speed 310 m/s
Guidance
system Inertial, GPS and active radar
Launch
platform Surface-launched
The Otomat missile program started in 1967, the same year in which the Israeli destroyer Eilat was sunk by three Soviet-made P-15 Termit anti-ship missiles. This event raised awareness about the effectiveness of such weapons and prompted the development of similar systems in Western countries, such as the Harpoon in the United States. However, it is unknown whether the Otomat program started before or after the Eilat event.
The Otomat program was undertaken by the Italian Oto Melara Corporation in cooperation with the French Matra Corporation. The aim was to develop an anti-ship missile powered by a turbofan which would allow more range and a heavier warhead than rocket-powered missiles then being developed in Europe such as the French Exocet and the German Kormoran. Trials started in 1971 and development of the Mk1 version of the Otomat officially ended in 1974.
Type Fire and forget
anti-ship and land attack
Place of origin Sweden
Service history
In service 1985- present
Used by See operators
Production history
Manufacturer Saab Bofors Dynamics, Diehl BGT Defence
Specifications
Weight 800 kg
Length 4.33 m
Diameter 50 cm
Warhead 200 kg HE blast and pre-fragmented
Detonation
mechanism impact or proximity
Engine turbojet
Wingspan 1.4 m
Operational
range 250 km
Flight altitude sea skimming
Speed subsonic
Guidance
system inertial, GPS, active radar (J band)
Launch
platform naval ships, aircraft and land-based missile launchers
The history of the missile can be traced back to the Swedish missile RB 08 from the mid-1960s (which in turn had been developed from the French CT-20 target drone). The RB 08 was an anti-ship missile, which functioned basically in the same way as the RBS-15. Both missiles are guided by an autopilot mid-course guidance and a monopulse J-band radar. The sustainer engine is a small turbojet.
