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Air Force tests upgraded anti-radar missile

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Airman 1st Class Rachel Leamon, a conventional munitions maintainer with the 169th Maintenance Squadron’s munitions element at McEntire Joint National Guard Base, S.C., secures a high-speed anti-radiation missile (HARM-88) to its rack after completing the post-flight inspection, Jan. 10, 2012 in the Precision Guided Munitions maintenance bay. Leamon has been assigned to the munitions element at McEntire for 1.5 years, maintaining conventional and precision guided munitions, as well as associated containers, dispensers, and training items. This includes the inspection, assembly, disassembly, all function testing, and required repair action on all munitions assigned to the unit committed munitions listing, supporting all operational requirements.

The Air Force and Raytheon have successfully completed flight tests for an improved HARM anti-radar missile.

During the tests, an F-16 fired a HARM Control Section Modification (HCSM) AGM-88F “against an emitter located outside a pre-planned zone of exclusion,” said a Raytheon news release. “A similar radiating emitter within the ZOE attempted to confuse the HCSM so it would engage the decoy target. Using its new GPS/inertial measurement unit (IMU) capability, HCSM successfully impacted the correct target.”

“HCSM has new features that allow it to engage a wide range of modern SAMs, are resistant to counter-HARM tactics, and reduces the risk of fratricide or collateral damage,” Raytheon said.

HCSM was recently cleared for full-rate production. The Air Force awarded Raytheon the HCSM contract in 2012. The missile was recently cleared for full-rate production.

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Michael Peck is a correspondent for Defense News and a columnist for the Center for European Policy Analysis. He holds an M.A. in political science from Rutgers University. Find him at theuncommondefense.com. His email is mikedefense1@gmail.com.