AGM-158C launched from a B-1B Gunfighter strategic bomber. (Wikipedia)
One of the most lethal weapons used to attack warships is the anti-ship missile. Weighing only a few hundred kilograms, these missiles can destroy warships of thousands or even thousands of tons displacement from tens or even thousands of miles away with the speed of a thunderbolt.
According to the U.S. political and diplomatic journal The National Interest, during the Cold War, in October 1967, in a naval battle between Israel and Egypt, a small Egyptian missile boat with a displacement of only 61 tons fired two P-15 ballistic missiles, hitting the Israeli destroyer INS Eilat 30 kilometers away. The 1,700-ton Israeli behemoth was almost cut in two and sank two minutes later.
Among the weapons used to attack warships, the combat power of anti-ship missiles far exceeds that of ordinary naval guns, torpedoes and aircraft bombs, so the military community attaches great importance to the development of anti-ship missiles.
In 1977, the U.S. Navy first announced a subsonic anti-ship missile, the “AGM-84 Harpoon,” with a 221-kilogram warhead, launched from a variety of warships, submarines and aircraft, flying low along the surface to destroy enemy ships at distances of 110 to 240 kilometers.
The AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missile is still in service in the United States and other countries, such as the U.S. Navy’s Burke class destroyers, the Turkish Navy’s Type 209 submarines and the Singapore Air Force’s Fokker 50 aircraft. The U.S. Burke class destroyers are equipped with the SHIELD combat system and the AN/SPY-13D phased array radar, and their primary mission is to coordinate air defense operations with aircraft carriers and other battle groups.
The U.S. Navy ship fired AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles.
The U.S. Army used two Harpoon missiles and four short-range laser missiles to sink the Iranian Navy’s 1,100-ton Sahand patrol ship in April 1988.
However, the combat power of the AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missile is increasingly inadequate to meet military needs.
In 2009, the U.S. Navy began using the longer-range SM-6 supersonic anti-aircraft missile to strike air and surface targets, but the SM-6’s shortcoming is its small warhead (only 63.5 kg) and lack of combat power against large warships.
Meanwhile, Russia and the Chinese Communist Party have developed anti-ship missiles that break through anti-missile defenses with supersonic speeds. For example, the Russian military is equipped with ramjet-powered supersonic Onyx missiles (P-800 Oniks) with a maximum range of 595 kilometers and speeds of up to 2.5 times the speed of sound.
The supersonic BrahMos anti-ship missile, developed in cooperation between India and Russia, weighs 2,722 kilograms and is capable of approaching and attacking targets with a curved flight evasion maneuver.
The Chinese military has also introduced the 600-km range Eagle Strike 18 (YJ-18) anti-ship missile, capable of cruising at subsonic speeds and attacking enemy ships at three times the speed of sound when close to the target.
In response to these conditions, the U.S. Navy has developed the newest stealthy smart anti-ship missile, the AGM-158, which features multi-purpose, long-range, stealthy, precision-guided and automated flight. It belongs to a new generation of long-range missiles and is currently available in three models, AGM-158A, B and C.
The stealthy smart missile AGM-158 can be used for air-to-ground strikes.
The AGM-158A is an air-sea dual-purpose stealthy sea surface precision cruise missile with a range of 370 kilometers, which first demonstrated its combat capability during the U.S. airstrikes in Syria on April 4, 2018. At that time, two U.S. B-1B Gunfighter bombers fired 19 AGM-158A missiles at chemical weapons labs in Syria.
The AGM-158B has a range of nearly 1,000 kilometers. The AGM-158C is even more powerful, with a range of nearly 1,000 kilometers and more features, such as a precise GPS anti-jamming positioning system that locks in the attack path; a high-performance F107 turbofan engine that ensures the missile is launched in all weather as well as stable flight; and a 454-kilogram penetrating high-explosive warhead that blows the target to pieces after turning into the enemy ship.
Unlike ordinary anti-ship missiles, the AGM-158C model has stealth capabilities because it does not emit radar signals itself, but rather accepts and uses enemy ship signals for navigation, which reduces the chance of detection by enemy radar.
AGM-158 missile and FA-18E Super Hornet naval fighter.
The AGM-158C missile is equipped with a variety of sensors with the ability to automatically search for targets, determine the level of attack, evade enemy radar and lock on to enemy ships, and will simultaneously transmit this information back to the command center and later receive corrective data to further ensure that the attack is foolproof.
AGM-158C long-range anti-ship missile in close proximity to the enemy ship, can reduce the flight altitude, close to the surface of the flight, along the infrared sensing signal given the attack route, straight to the enemy ship’s deadly parts, to maximize combat effectiveness.
In short, the AGM-158C type with other missiles do not have the ability to distinguish intelligently, can eliminate false targets and other kinds of interference, and choose the real enemy ship target to destroy.
In addition, the U.S. military can launch multiple AGM-158C missiles at the same target, and these missiles are coordinated to ensure that the same time to hit the target, so that the enemy ship has no possibility of survival.
Currently, the AGM-158C missiles have been launched from multiple platforms on land, sea and air, such as on the supersonic strategic bomber B-1B starting in 2018 and the carrier-based fighter FA-18E Super Hornet starting in 2019.
FA-18E Super Hornet in flight
The most advanced U.S. F-35 Lightning (Lightening) II stealth fighter can also launch AGM-158C missiles to strike enemy ships from the air.
In a few years, the AGM-158C could also be launched from the U.S. Army’s various cruiser and destroyer MK-41 vertical launch systems.
Lockheed Martin, an arms dealer, is preparing to equip smaller frigates with the AGM-158C missile and is currently developing a deck-mounted canister launch system. And Lockheed Martin has nearly completed development of a submarine-launched AGM-158.
According to the National Interest, the AGM-158’s long-range anti-ship missile has a subsonic speed, but its stealth capability compensates for this slower attack speed, and even if detected, it could be destroyed when an enemy ship is caught off guard.
The AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) costs $3 million each. The U.S. Navy plans to equip 467 LRASMs, with 23 currently on order.
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