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| US Secretly Armed Ukraine With AGM-88 HARM Missiles (Pict of Illustrations) |
Washington - Russia is expected to get into trouble after Ukraine deploys US-made radar-hunting missiles. Ukraine's advantage may be temporary as the Russian military adapts, but for now, the presence of the AGM-88 HARM or High Speed Anti-Radiation Missile will make Russian troops think twice before turning on their radar.
The presence of the AGM-88 poses problems for the Russian air defense radar needed to defend against Ukrainian helicopters and jets as well as for the counter-battery radar used to locate Ukrainian artillery, including some US-made rocket launchers.
Reports of radar-destroying missiles in Ukraine emerged in early August, after Russian bloggers reported finding HARM fragments purportedly hitting a Russian anti-aircraft missile site in Ukraine. The Pentagon immediately confirmed that the HARM had been supplied to Ukraine.
Quoted from Business Insider, Undersecretary of Defense for policy, Colin Kahl said “We have included a number of anti-radiation missiles that can be fired from Ukrainian aircraft that could have an effect on Russian radars.
HARM is a powerful weapon, but not a new weapon. The missile was first deployed in 1983, and the 4.2 meter long, 362 kg missile has a range of 48 km and a top speed of Mach 2.
US aircraft have used the AGM-88 in several operations, including in Libya, Iraq and Yugoslavia. The missile is now used by a total of 15 countries. This missile is a derivative of the AGM-45 Shrike, which was used in the Vietnam War with varying success.
The Shrike, based on the troubled AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missile, has a short range and can only enter on a limited range of radar frequencies. North Vietnamese radar operators learned to confuse missile radar seekers by turning their transmitters on and off. HARM corrected this flaw.
Its radar finder covers a wide range of frequencies and maintains the location of the radar transmitter even if the radar is turned off. Its 48-kilometer range means it can be launched beyond the range of many anti-aircraft guns.
The U.S. Navy will deploy the AGM-88G Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile Extended Range (AARGM-ER) by 2023, and the Stand-in Attack Weapon (SiAW), which is designed to attack a wider range of targets in enemy air defense systems, is currently underway. developed for the F-35.
For its part, Russia has the Kh-31P anti-radiation missile based on the Kh-31 supersonic anti-ship missile that has been sold to China as the YJ-91. Read also: Russian ammunition depot in Crimea explodes, a sign Ukraine continues to fight anti-radiation missiles are not magic weapons, but they can be very useful.
When launched before an air strike, they can suppress air defenses and open a safe passage for aircraft. They can also be fooled by tricks like decoy radar transmitters. For example, the US TLQ-32 decoy system locates the fake transmitter at a great distance from the real radar. (The point of impact of the decoy is called the "ARM hole.") By contrast, anti-radar missiles are just one of many tools such as jamming and decoys in the ever-evolving game of cat-and-mouse electronic warfare.
In many ways, anti-radiation missiles are psychological weapons. HARM will not completely turn off Russian radar, but it will make their operators more careful and selective in transmitting. In Ukraine, anti-radiation missiles are likely to have a limited impact.