US Deputy Defense Secretary Bill LaPlante said that the US had upgraded the Harpoon anti-ship missile before transferring it to Ukraine for ukraine russian conflicts.
Harpoon anti-ship missile is one of the powerful weapons transferred by the US to Ukraine to help the country fight against Russia’s special military operation.
According to military time zulu US Deputy Defense Secretary Bill LaPlante, the Harpoon anti-ship missiles have undergone a deep conversion and upgrade process before being delivered to the Ukrainian military in early June 2022.
Accordingly, the above missile complexes were originally mounted on warships of the navy of an ally of the United States.
After the two countries agreed to transfer this weapon to Ukraine, US military engineers converted the launchers of the Harpoon missile to be placed on the chassis of a wheeled truck.
Controllers and electrical systems were also urgently designed and installed in these complexes to facilitate easy firing.
Deputy Secretary Bill LaPlante also said that the US military has conducted training for Ukrainian officers to quickly familiarize themselves with this new weapon.
LaPlante confirmed that only two weeks after being equipped with Harpoon missiles, the Ukrainian military used this missile to sink a Russian warship in the Black Sea.
On May 23, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that he would donate Harpoon anti-ship missiles and launchers to Ukraine.
This US-made weapon is expected to significantly increase the offensive capabilities of the Ukrainian military and help the country regain control of the Black Sea.
Immediately after receiving the Harpoon missiles, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksi Reznikov warned the Russian Navy.
“Ukrainian coastal defense forces have been strengthened with extremely effective Harpoon anti-ship missile systems. Together with Neptune missiles, Harpoon missiles will force the enemy fleet to keep a long distance to avoid. suffered the same fate as the flagship Moscow of the Black Sea Fleet,” Reznikov said.
The AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missile is a product of the famous US weapons manufacturer Boeing.
Although they first appeared in 1977, thanks to continuous improvements, this anti-ship missile remains one of the most feared weapons at sea.
The AGM-84 Harpoon is designed to be quite flexible to be equipped on many launch vehicles such as warships, submarines and both strategic bombers and combat aircraft.
With a 221kg warhead, the AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missile can split thousands of tons of warships.
Currently, the latest and most powerful variant is the AGM-84 Harpoon Block II, which has a range of up to 315km.
This type of missile is 3.8 m long (aircraft-launched variant, weighs 519 kg) – 4.6 m (variant launched from surface ships, submarines, and on vehicle launchers weighs 628 kg), the diameter of 34 cm, and the warhead weigh 221 kg.
The combat range of the AGM-84 Harpoon missile ranges from 100 to 315 km depending on the type, the most common being in the range of 124 km.
This missile rushes to the target thanks to many modern navigation devices according to GPS satellite positioning, which can hit targets at sea and ashore.
The cost of each fruit is over 2 million USD excluding equipment and accessories. An estimated 7,800 AGM-84 Harpoon missiles with many versions have been built since then. Currently, there are 22 countries and territories possessing this dangerous anti-ship missile.
