Missile AGM-88 HARM

The AGM-88 HARM (High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile) is a US air-to-surface anti-radiation missile built to home on emissions from surface-to-air radar systems. It was developed by Texas Instruments under a US Navy-led program to replace the AGM-45 Shrike and AGM-78 Standard ARM, and is now produced by Raytheon. Full production was approved in March 1983. The missile reached initial operating capability on the A-7E Corsair II in late 1983 and deployed in late 1985 with VA-46 aboard USS America.

The missile uses proportional guidance through a fixed antenna and seeker head in the nose. It can detect and attack a radar antenna or transmitter with minimal aircrew input. Propulsion is a smokeless, solid-propellant, dual-thrust booster-sustainer motor giving speeds above Mach 2. The warhead is the WAU-7/B blast-fragmentation type. Guidance combines passive radar homing with home-on-jam, and later variants add GPS/INS. The missile has three modes: Pre-Briefed, Target of Opportunity and Self-Protect. On USAF F-16s, the HARM Targeting System pod detects and assigns emitters independently of the missile's seeker.

The AGM-88E AARGM keeps the original motor, warhead, wings and fins. It adds a new seeker combining a passive homing receiver, GPS/INS and millimeter-wave radar for terminal guidance against emitters that shut down. It can also transmit target imagery by satellite link seconds before impact. In a September 2015 test, it struck a moving ship target.

The AGM-88F HCSM retrofits satellite and inertial navigation controls to reduce collateral damage and fratricide. The US Air Force adopted it.

The AGM-88G AARGM-ER pairs the AGM-88E seeker and warhead with a new airframe and a dual-pulse motor that roughly doubles range. Side strakes replace the mid-body wings, and control surfaces move to the tail. The AARGM-ER is carried internally on the F-35A and F-35C, and a January 2024 contract covers its integration on all three F-35 variants. A January 2026 test demonstrated flight in a GPS-denied environment.

The AARGM-ER is the basis of the AGM-88J SiAW, an internally carried weapon for use after penetrating enemy airspace. Its targets include ballistic, cruise and anti-ship missile launchers, GPS jammers and anti-satellite systems.

The HARM was first used in combat in March 1986 against a Libyan S-200 site in the Gulf of Sidra. It was used again in April during Operation Eldorado Canyon. All US air services used it extensively in Desert Storm. In one Gulf War incident, an F-4G crew mistook a B-52G's tail-gun radar for an Iraqi AAA site and fired on the bomber. The B-52G survived with shrapnel damage and was renamed In HARM's Way. False "Magnum" launch calls were often enough to make Iraqi radar operators shut down.

During Operation Allied Force in 1999, NATO reportedly fired 743 HARMs but confirmed destroying only three of 25 SA-6 batteries. Serbian crews limited radar emissions to 20 seconds or less. On 28 April 1999, a HARM lost track and struck a house in Sofia, Bulgaria, causing no casualties.

The missile was used to enforce the Iraqi no-fly zones. On 24 March 2003, an F-16CJ fired a HARM at a US Patriot battery and damaged its radar. In 2011 over Libya, US EA-18Gs, USAF F-16CJs and Italian Tornados used HARMs. On 24 February 2024, an EA-18G destroyed a Houthi Mi-24/35 on the ground with an AGM-88E.

The United States supplied HARMs to Ukraine in mid-2022. Ukraine integrated them on MiG-29 and Su-27 aircraft using the existing APU-470 launchers, and cockpit displays read the missile as an R-27EP.

The missile is operated by the US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. It has been exported to Australia, Bahrain, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine and the UAE. Finland, the Netherlands, Poland and Norway are acquiring the AARGM-ER.