U.S. Navy getting Harpoon III

[Sea Demon]

Looks like the U.S. Navy is funding the Harpoon III. And it looks like it will be a valued purchase.

http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2008/q1/080131a_nr.html

[Imamar]

Oh my god this is good news. I like to be there when they light it up first time. Hopefully YOUTUBE will cover that.

[sonar732]

Now...if they could only make them go a little faster.

[Molon Labe]

Now...if they could only make them go a little faster.

No kidding. I can't really get moist over slow-skimmers anymore. Not with missile defense technology becoming more advanced and with the BrahMos expected to be widely exported.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/rattlrs.htm This would be more to my liking. :|\\

At least the upgrade to the Block III shows that the Navy still cares about ASuW, just a little bit.

[Sea Demon]

Now...if they could only make them go a little faster.
No kidding. I can't really get moist over slow-skimmers anymore. Not with missile defense technology becoming more advanced and with the BrahMos expected to be widely exported.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/rattlrs.htm This would be more to my liking. :|\\

At least the upgrade to the Block III shows that the Navy still cares about ASuW, just a little bit.
Oh, I don't know. I think the real world Harpoon is alot more effective than what we get to see. Especially since the U.S. has the ability to pretty much saturate targets with them. Speed doesn't mean total effectiveness. I'd rather see Low Observable (RCS) , Low IR signature, sea-skimming subsonic solutions rather than a heavyweight, high IR signature, high RCS supersonic missiles in the U.S. inventory. We can defend against that, and I doubt very much that our potential enemies would do well against what we can put up. Missile defenses may be improving, but saturation is still possible on the enemies we potentially face. I think Harpoon is still a very viable ASuW weapons system in the real world. But I wouldn't argue against RATTLR's. A hypersonic missile on the other end of the spectrum would only serve to complement our other capabilities including an upgraded Harpoon missile system.

The thing about this missile upgrade is it shows that the US Navy is looking at upgrading the ASuW capability of our surface fleet. That's good. I think the Navy does care alot about ASuW, but we intend to fight it differently than just pitting our surface fleet one vs.one with another nations surface forces. We intend to destroy enemy ships by conducting torpedo attacks from our submarines. Or we will just bomb the crap out of enemy surface forces from land-based bombers or carrier strike aircraft. Using Electronic Warfare and such. It seems our Navy has focused on turning our surface ships solely into "defenders of the fleet". Defense is the prime focus. Offensive ASuW has been reduced as a role since the early 90's. I've always thought that was a mistake. What if an enemy can put our offensive carrier in the region out of action? Then our surface units wouldn't be able to fight it out on those terms. Arleigh Burkes and Tico's need to be able to fight it out on the surface offensively. They need balanced offensive and defensive capabilities. This will give them that capability. It looks like SLAM-ER can also be used in the anti-surface role from ships, and maybe Tomahawk. Although Tomahawks ability to do this cannot be clearly confirmed at this point. But this is all good news indeed.

BTW, I think this version will be launched from VLS cells.

[Sea Demon]

http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/missiles/slam/docs/SLAM-ER_overview.pdf

The above .pdf proves the SLAM-ER is able to hit moving targets at sea, and can be retro-fitted to be fired from ships. I wonder if the Navy will adapt them to be used on AB's and Tico's as well as the upgraded Harpoon III. During wartime, I'm glad to see that it is at least an option for the U.S. Naval Surface Warfighter.

[Molon Labe]

The Harpoon saw action in Praying Mantis and did OK. Not great, not bad, but OK.

[Blacklight]

ROFL !!! When I first saw this post, I thought to myself.. "The navy is going to be funding Harpoon III ? Cool !!! Maybe that will mean more bug fixes down the line for Harpoon III Advance Naval Warfare and more patches and more accurate databases !! Matrix Games must be really happy !"
Shows you where my mind is at most of the time.:oops:

[Dr.Sid]

ROFL !!! When I first saw this post, I thought to myself.. "The navy is going to be funding Harpoon III ? Cool !!! Maybe that will mean more bug fixes down the line for Harpoon III Advance Naval Warfare and more patches and more accurate databases !! Matrix Games must be really happy !"
Shows you where my mind is at most of the time.:oops:

Me too .. :arrgh!: