It Won't Kill a 'Battleship': Is It Time to Retire America's Harpoon Missiles?

Charlie Gao

Security,

Requirements have changed since the Cold War.

Key point: The Harpoon is still useful, but is already being gradually improved and replaced.

The Harpoon has a long and storied history in U.S. service. As the primary anti-ship armament of the U.S. Navy from the 1970s to the present, the Harpoon was involved in some of the only surface-to-surface engagements during the Cold War in Operation Praying Mantis.

Despite its successes, the time for the Harpoon’s time in service appears to be running out. Harpoons are being removed from Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, the U.S. Navy’s most numerous surface combatant.

The new Naval Strike Missile (NSM) appears to be the Harpoon’s replacement in some ways. It won the competition to be the next over-the-horizon anti-ship missile to arm the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ships.

But the Harpoon is still being purchased and upgraded. The new Harpoon Block II+ performed well at RIMPAC 2018 and is set to be procured into the near future.

So how does the new NSM stack up against the upgraded Harpoon? In what ways is the Harpoon becoming obsolete?

First of all, the NSM is smaller and lighter than the Harpoon. The Harpoon weighs in at almost 700kg for its surface-launched variant. The NSM is only 407 kg.

These weight difference also applies to the warheads; the Harpoon has a massive 224kg warhead to the NSM’s 100kg. However, the NSM is designed to have a programmable fuze that can select the best mode of detonation per target, as opposed to the Harpoon that simply uses a time-delayed contact fuze.

The latest Harpoon recently adopted is said to use a lighter warhead than the standard 224kg, but details are scarce.

The NSM is also said to be able to aim for the “weak spots” of a ship to maximize the damage of its smaller warhead.