December 7,
2008: Brazil has sold a hundred MAR-1 anti-radiation missiles to Pakistan. The
MAR-1 weighs 603 pounds, is 13 feet long and has a max range of 25 kilometers.
It has a 200 pound warhead and is used to seek out and destroy air-defense
radars. Pakistan paid about $1.1 million for each missile (including training,
tech support and spare parts). Top speed of the missile is about a 1,200
kilometers an hour (335 meters a second). At max range, it takes about two
minutes to reach a target. More common times would be about a minute.
The latest
version of the U.S. anti-radiation missile, the 800 pound AGM-88D, uses GPS so
that the missile, which normally homes in on radar transmissions, can be used
to attack targets by location alone. MAR-1 uses a similar system. The AGM-88
moves at high speed (2,200 kilometers an hour, or 36 kilometers a minute) to
hit targets 100 kilometers away. This version of the AGM-88 costs less than
$100,000 each. The standard version uses more complex sensors which can detect
and guide the missile to a wide variety of radar signals. These versions cost
about $300,000 each. GPS enables HARM (or the aircraft carrying it) to locate a
radar when it is turned on, store the GPS location, then go after the target
regardless of whether it is turned on or off. MAR-1 has a target radar sensor
that can detect signals up to 500 kilometers away.
Another
recent model of the traditional version, the AGM-88E, uses a more expensive
approach to nailing enemy radars that are turned on briefly, and attempts to
avoid destruction by quickly turning off power. The missile, also called the
Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM), was developed jointly by U.S.
and Italian firms. The original AGM-88 has been in use since the 1980s, and the
original 1960s anti- radiation missile quickly evolved into what was called
HARM (High Speed Anti-Radiation Missile).
The AGM-88E
version defeats the favorite trick of anti-aircraft units, shutting down their
radars when they note a HARM is on the way. The AGM-88E remembers where the
radar is when it was on, and carries its own high resolution (millimeter wave)
radar to make sure it gets the radar. Finally, the AGM-88E can transmit a
picture of the target, just before it is hit, so the user can be certain of
what was taken out. Currently, there are orders for over 2,000 of these
missiles from the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, Italy and Germany. Production
began last year, on what appears to be an endless line of HARM variants. Many
other countries, like Brazil, build anti-radiation missiles, but the
capabilities of these missiles varies considerably.
