Thread: US Navy to Commision USS Momsen Aug. 9th.

Flight IIA Arleigh Burkes don't have Harpoons.

The 5" Gun, ESSM, and SM-2 are their only antiship weapons.

LOL, the OHP's best antiship weapon will soon be it's Phalanx.

Why do they need to have Harpoons if every ship around them has Harpoons???

Agreed. There is really no credible surface threat out there that can't be handled by the existing Harpoon-equipped ships. At the moment they greatly out-number the Flight IIA's.

I think part of the problem people have with the lack of Harpoons on the IIA's has to do with how revolutionary it was when it first appeared and they, myself included, can't believe that it wouldnt be added to such a large surface combatant, especially one the same class that already had then.

A little background on the Harpoon:

Until it was introduced to the fleet, the idea of powerful anti-ship missile that could be fitted to virtually every platform (including patrol boats eventually!) in the Navy was seen as a pipe-dream, something only for the Russians (like the Styx).

Instead, suddenly it wasnt just the carriers with the offensive punch.

It really gave the Surface Warfare community a shot in the arm. "As a skipper of the much-maligned Knox-class frigates remarked 'Now everyone can be a shooter'."

Fighters and bombers like the B-52 can also launch Harpoons. I think a flight of B-52H's loaded with only Harpoons would be able to kick the Soviet Navy's ass. They'd be able to hide in their own jamming, jam the shit out of everyone else, and than launch hundreds of Harpoons. Some would have to get through. It's like when I play Risk. You gird up for a massive attack, and eventually due to numbers some will get through and start the destruction.

That was one of the great things about Harpoon when it came out.

It wasnt just surface ships but also submarines, and all manner of naval aviation and Air Force (the B-52) planes that could carry it.

I wonder what the theoretical maximum number of Harpoons a -52 could carry?

According to fas.org it's 8 AGM-84 Harpoon and/or (not sure which) 8 AGM-142 Popeye [3 ext] and/or 12 AGM-158 JASSSM [ext]. Those don't include JDAM, JSOW, CBU, or GP munitions. From what I can see on FAS, the Popeye is a more lethal weapon that the AGM-84A is. I dunno how it compares to the AGM-84E or to the SLAM-ER

A pretty rare example of a "non-joint" weapon being used by different services. I was pretty surprised when I read about Harpoons being mounted on B-52s. Seems like it was years and years ago...

There is just the one squadron of BUFFs that carry them though.

The USN's P-3's of course all carry 4. The Outlaw Hunter mod of the P-3C is a very capable OTH attacker.