Israel shows -- and sells -- sophisticated loitering munition system
Israel used the Paris Air Show to display the Harop, a robo-kamikaze device; the defense-suppressing weapon loiters in the air and transmits back video to its control station just like a surveillance drone; if a target is found — typically, an enemy radar —the Harop can then fly down and crash into it with unerring precision, detonating its 50 lb warhead as it does so
The Israeli arms industry appears to have stolen a march on that of Britain in the field of “loitering munitions” — aerial surveillance drones equipped with warheads and designed for one-way strike missions. The U.K. Ministry of Defense pays large sums to develop a partly homegrown example, but
Lewis Page writes that Israel is already making substantial export sales of its Harop robo-kamikaze.
Israel’s aircraft manufacturer IAI announced a $100m+ sale to an undisclosed foreign customer last week. The Harop made a splash at the Paris Airshow, and rumor around the arms bazaar has it that the unnamed purchaser nation is Turkey — though there are other theories. Meanwhile, IAI also says that an adapted version of the hammerhead-esque killbird will also be bought by the German armed forces.
Page spoke with Joe Weisman of IAI at Le Bourget. Weisman explained that the Harop is a derivative of “the world’s first loitering munition that I’m aware of, the Harpy defense-suppression weapon.” Harpy was designed to take out air-defense radars — a capability of great concern to the aggressive Israeli air force, known for mounting bombing raids against any target deemed dangerous to Israel — no matter where it is located. Harpy would fall off its carrying aircraft and then fly about waiting for an air-defense radar below to switch on and begin emitting pulses — at which point the Harpy would dive down on the transmitter and explode.
Harop differs from Harpy in that it is directed electro-optically rather than by radar. It can be launched from a container on a ground vehicle, firing out of its box on a booster rocket then unfolding its wings and starting up its internal-combustion driven pusher propeller. Once airborne, the Harop can fly about until its fuel is exhausted, transmitting back video to its control station just like a surveillance drone.
“It’s a missile, not a drone,” says Weisman. If the Harpy does not find a target worthy of attack, it can not be brought back and used again. In such a case it would normally self-destruct in midair to avoid unnecessary damage.
If a target is found, however, the Harop can then fly down and crash into it with unerring precision, detonating its 50 lb warhead as it does so. IAI specifies that “the attack can be performed from any direction and at any attack angle, from flat to vertical which is highly essential in urban areas.”
Given the German and Turkish orders, it is plain that Harop is ready to go right now, and is well up to the standards of major-nation armed forces. Such loitering munitions are a popular concept in many quarters, too — particularly among the U.K. Royal Artillery, which intends to introduce a loitering munition as the cornerstone of its Indirect Fire Precision Attack (IFPA) program, a major part of its planned future.
