hello everyone and welcome back again with us
on october 11th 1967 the israeli destroyer elath was sunk by three p-15 cruise missiles
fired by two dinky 61-ton patrol boats of the egyptian navy firing from nearly 20 miles away
the realization dawned on navies across the world that long-range over-the-horizon missiles had
replaced the gun torpedo and aerial bomb as the pre-eminent anti-ship weapon in naval warfare
german air-launched anti-ship missiles had already scored some notable success during world war ii
but now it was clear that even small surface combatants could be capable launch platforms
a decade later the us navy debuted the agm-84 harpoon missile a subsonic sea skimming weapon
with a 488-pound warhead that came in variants that could fire from a ship a submarine or
an airplane the harpoon still serves with dozens of countries on platforms including
type 209 submarines of the turkish navy modified fokker 50 airliners of the singaporean air force
and early model arleigh burke class destroyers of the u.s navy
the land attack slammer variant remains an important standoff weapon for navy fighters the
anti-ship harpoon has also seen action in a number of naval skirmishes sinking several missile boats
however the harpoon striking range of 70 to 150 miles depending on type has fallen far
behind competing anti-ship missiles quite simply after the end of the cold war russian and chinese
surface warfare capabilities appeared modest so the u.s navy became preoccupied with planning
for literal operations even harpoon launch capabilities were removed from oliver hazard perry
class frigates and u.s attack submarines and not built into later arleigh burke-class destroyers
navy surface warships did eventually gain the capability to use long-range sm-6 missiles against
both air and sea targets but these employ a small pound warhead less optimize against large ships
meanwhile russia and china develop anti-ship missiles that out range their u.s equivalent
many of them specially designed to overcome anti-missile defense using supersonic speed
and evasive maneuvers notable examples include the russian ramjet powered p800 onyx cruise missiles
capable of striking at naval targets up to 370 miles away while flying two and a half
times the speed of sound the russian indian brahmos which weighs six thousand pounds and
performs an s-shaped evasive maneuver before impact and the chinese vj-18 derived from
the caliber cruise missile which accelerates to mach 3 on its terminal approach enter the lrasm
the naval has finally pushed into production a next generation surface-to-surface missile under
its offensive anti-surface weapon program by adopting a weapon already in use with
the air force the agm-158 joint air-to-surface standoff missile is a stealthy and highly precise
surface-skimming cruise missile with a range of 230 pounds or 620 for the extended range agm-158b
the shorter-range agm-158 model saw its combatant debut on april 4th 2018 when two b-1b bombers
launched 19 of the stealth missiles at a syrian research center in barza lockheed martin went
ahead and developed the anti-ship agm-158c model designated rather plainly by the navy
as the long-range anti-ship missile rather than a russian-style supersonic missile that's too fast
for a ship's defense to intercept the lrasm is the missile an enemy vessel simply won't see coming
until it's too late the missile retains the basic model's inertial and jam resistant gps
navigation system its high efficiency f-107 turbofan engine and its thousand-pound
penetrator fragmentation warhead more than twice the weight of the harpoons
however unlike the ground targets the j-a-s-s-m was designed to destroy
ships are mobile therefore the lrasm carries multiple sensors allowing it to autonomously
search for and identify adversary warships while sorting out civilian friendly or low
priority enemy vessels by matching their radar profile to data in an onboard database
the missile also transmits data including day or night camera feed back to its launch platform via
a two-way data link which allows the launcher in turn defeated during course corrections
an lra sm is first fired using targeting data from the firing platform towards its target
which it approaches at medium altitude however if the data link is disrupted the missile's
guidance algorithm allows it to acquire and hone in on a target without external direction
or to maneuver around neutral or hostile ships that interpose themselves in its path
guidance of the missile is handed over to a radio frequency center
or electronic support measure as soon as an appropriate target enters range rather than
exposing itself by its own radar to search for a target the missile stealthily hones in on an
enemy's adversary's radar signals the very radar intended to warn the target of a missile attack
in the terminal stage the missile descends to skim low over the ocean's surface
and the rfs seekers hand over guidance to an infrared sensor which has sufficient fidelity to
target specific locations of an enemy vessel to maximize damage if multiple lr asms are inbound
on the same target their network software allows them to time their terminal approach
for simultaneous swarming attack helping them oversaturate enemy defense fire the lrasm also
dispose of electric counter countermeasures eccm to overcome any defense systems
all these systems do add a few hundred pounds to the missile leaving it with a decreased
range of at least 230 miles though some sources suggest it may actually reach up to 350 miles
the agm-158c is entering service in 2018 with the air force's b-1b bombers the navy's carrier-based
fa-18e or f-super hornet jets will follow in 2019 and a few years later it will enter service with
cruisers and destroyers equipped with the ubiquitous mark 41 vertical launch system
which can pack a wide variety of munitions in its launch cells the surface-to-surface lr asm
variants would be fitted with mark 114 rocket boosters which are jettisoned after launch
you can see a surface test launch here for smaller forgate size vessels that don't use the mark 41
vls in us service literal combat ships or some future ffgx design lockheed martin is developing
a deck mounted canister launch version though the us navy has chosen the cheaper shorter range
norwegian naval strike missile to fulfill this role for now lrasm and naval strategy
all in all the lrasm could significantly improve the striking power and reach of
u.s surface warships and it fits well with the new doctrine of distributed firepower which emphasizes
network sensor data and spreading firepower over multiple launch platforms furthermore the
missile's redundant guidance system would remain effective even in a heavy electronic warfare
environment against a tech savvy opponent there are a few caveats to consider however
long-range missiles can only be used to their fullest potential
when combined with equally long-range sensors feeding targeting data to the launch platform
not something that could be taken for granted fortunately between drones and aircraft capable
of networking their sensor data such as the f-35c stealth fighter and new cooperative
engagement technology under development the us navy has prospects for executing such a strategy
the second consideration is that while the stealthy lrasm may evade radar detection and
may delay responses of anti-aircraft defenses until too late its subsonic speed may leave it a
comparatively easy target for shorter range close defense auto cannons and heat seeking missiles
though the lrasm supposedly has a reduced infrared signature a final issue is price
the lrasm appear to cost roughly 3 million dollars per missile making it a premium asset
at over twice the cost of newer model harpoon missiles this could limit the number fielded
currently the navy seeks to acquire 467 lrasms though in the near term only 23 are on order
down the line lockheed martin has explored creating a submarine launched version of the lrasm
though that would require a substantial modification to enable underwater firing another
concept is a supersonic ramjet powered lrasmb similar along the lines of the brahmos missiles
which would prove difficult for short-range defenses to intercept like the air force the navy
might also be interested in a long-range variant of the lrasm perhaps by lengthening the fuselage
so we could carry extra fuel or by lightning the warhead longer striking range would make it the
lrasm practical as a land attack weapon the one that comes at a steeper price than the tomahawk
currently however efforts are focused on bringing into service the air launched agm-158c
which has been successfully test fired from b1 bombers six times most recently on march 20th
large-scale naval warfare has been relatively rare since the end of world war ii
hopefully that won't change in the 21st century however as china rapidly enlarges
its navy with cost-efficient hard-hitting and far-reaching warships the u.s navy will be
compelled to upgrade its neglected surface warfare capabilities to defend its primacy
you