Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

The acronym ‘HARM’ in the AGM-88 HARM air-to-surface missile stands for High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile.

• It is a tactical weapon fired from fighter aircraft, and has the capability to detect and home into radiation emitted by hostile radar stations that have surface-to-air detection capabilities.
• The missile was originally developed by the Dallas-headquartered Texas Instruments, but is now produced by the major American defence contractor Raytheon Corporation. 
• An advanced version of the weapon is manufactured by Dulles, Virginia-based Northrop Grumman.
• The AGM-88 HARM is 14 metres in length, but only 10 inches in diameter.
• It weighs around 360 kg and carries a fragmentation type warhead that is optimised for radar targets.
• It also has an anti-radar homing seeker broadband RF antenna and receiver, and a solid state digital processor.
• The missile has a range of more than 100 km.

United States has supplied some “anti-radiation missiles” to Ukraine, which could be fired from some Ukrainian Air Force aircraft. The statement has put meat on Russian allegations that an American anti-radar missile, AGM-88 HARM, which is part of NATO’s inventory.