Page 21 - Latinaero_magazine_issue_02_March_2012

21 Latinaero Number 2 - 2012
a kit upgrade programme for existing U.S. Navy weapons that
will return 800 enhanced surface- and air-launch missiles and
50 ship-launch systems to the service’s inventory. Fitted with
a new data-link system, Block III will provide more control af-
ter the weapon is released, resulting in improved accuracy for
littoral and open-ocean warfare. Harpoon Block III adds in-
fight target updates, positive terminal control and connecti-
vity with future network architectures to a missile that already
provides autonomous, all-weather, over-the-
horizon capability. But full cancellation of this
project is now likely for budgetary cause.
The missile’s launch platforms cover:
 Fixed-wing aircraft (the AGM-84, without
the solid-fuel rocket booster);
 Surface ships (the RGM-84, ftted with a
solid-fuel rocket booster that detaches once
expanded, to allow the missile’s main turbo-
jet to maintain normal cruise fight);
 Submarines (the UGM-84, ftted 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 is
fred with a solid-fuel rocket booster.
The Harpoon is only comparable to the
French-made MBDA MM40/AM39/SM39 Exo-
cet missile (industrialised in Brazil by Avibras
and Mectron) which can be rightly conside-
red the only real Western competitor, the two
having much characteristics in common.
original é guiado por radar ativo, voando em uma trajetória
de cruzeiro em baixa altura para melhorar sua capacidade de
sobrevivência e letalidade.
As plataformas de lançamento do míssil incluem:
 Aeronaves de asa fxa (o AGM-84, sem o foguete de com-
bustível sólido);
 Navios de superfície (o RGM-84, equipado com um fo-
guete de combustível sólido que é descartado ao se exaurir,
permitindo ao turbojato principal do
míssil manter o voo de cruzeiro);
 Submarinos (o UGM-84, equipa-
do com um foguete de combustível
sólido e encapsulado para permitir o
lançamento submerso através de um
tubo de torpedo);
 A fragata type 23 da Royal Navy,
HMS Richmond, é retratada dispa-
rando um dos seus complementos de
mísseis antinavio RGM-84 Harpoon.
A Royal Navy Type 23 frigate,
HMS R ichmond, is pictured firing one
of her complement of RGM-84 Har-
poon anti-ship missiles. © UK MoD
www.latinaero.com
 Julho de 2010 - a fragata australiana
HMAS Warramunga dispara um míssil Harpoon
na costa do Havaí no Pacific Missile Range
Facility. O míssil é fotografado na fase de
lançamento, no momento em que está saindo
do seu tubo de armazenamento.
On 10 July 2010, the Royal Australian Navy
frigate HMAS Warramunga (FFH 152) fires a
Harpoon missile off the coast of Hawaii in
the Pacific Missile Range Facility, during
RIMPAC (RIMPAC) exercises. The missile is
pictured in the launch phase just at the mo-
ment it is exiting its storage tube, having just
deployed its stabilization fins. © U.S. Navy