The Defense Security Cooperation Agency on September 9, 2008, notified US Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sales that includes HARPOON Block II Missiles to India. The possible sale might include 20 AGM-84L HARPOON Block II missiles and 4 ATM-84L HARPOON Block II Exercise missiles. The Harpoon missile was developed to be used in US Navy as the basic anti-ship missile. It has been adapted to be used on submarines, aircrafts and land launchers in addition to surface ships.
AGM-84L HARPOON Block II
AGM-84L is the air launched version of the Harpoons. Boeing advertised specifications of AGM-84L are Length: 3.84 meters, width: 0.34 meters and Weight: 526 kg (all approx). Harpoon Block II is capable of executing both anti-ship and land strike missions. As per the Boeing brochure, conventional anti-ship missions, such as open ocean and near land, the GPS/INS eliminates mid-course guidance errors en route to the target area. The accurate navigation solution coupled with launch system improvements combine to offer better discrimination of target ships from islands, nearby land masses or other ships. These Block II improvements maintain Harpoon’s high hit probability against ships very close to land or traveling in congested sea lanes.
AGM-84L is a mid range antiship missile with a range in excess of 124 kms. This makes is a mid range anti-ship missile. The main competitors are the French Exocet AM-39, with a range of up to 70 km; Russian Kh-35 (AS-20 Kayak) with estimated 130 km range and Swedish RBS-15 Mk. II with 70+ kms range. All of these are sub sonic cruise missiles.
Air Launched Anti-Ship Missles in Indian Service
By mid-80s, No.6 Squadron of the Indian air Force was equipped with the Maritime Jaguar carrying the then British Sea Eagle anti-ship sea-skimming missiles. Indians have been in the arms bazaar for its replacement. Indian Navy Sea Kings can carry these missiles too. India is also in the process of integrating its heavier air platforms like SU-30 MKI with Brahmos anti-ship cruise missiles. Brahmos is a longer range missile and does not fall in the Harpoon class of missiles.
The US notification mentioned that, “India intends to use the HARPOON missiles to modernize its Air Force Anti-Surface Warfare mission capabilities and improve its naval operational flexibility. The missiles will assist the Indian Navy to develop and enhance standardization and operational ability with the United States.” The AGM-84L is probably destined for the maritime Jaguar squadron or the SU-30 MKI’s are to be adapted for maritime strike roles.
The other air assets that can use AGM-84L are the Indian Sea Kings or their successors. Since the US F-18’s can carry Harpoons, Indian Navy MiG-29’s can also theoretically launched from the Air Craft carrier with Harpoon payloads. The Russian AS-20 Kayak though have been offered with MiG-29K, but, somehow does not seem to be an option as even IL38 Sea Dragon upgrades did also not feature these missiles. AGM-84L Block II or its Block III version can be packaged with P-8I (US Navy version P-8A Poseidon) maritime resonance aircraft intended for Indian Navy.
