The Harpoon is an all-weather, over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile
manufactured by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing Defense, Space & Security). The AGM-84E Standoff Land Attack Missile (SLAM) and later AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER (Standoff Land Attack Missile – Expanded Response) are cruise missile variants.
The regular Harpoon uses active radar homing and flies just above the water to evade defenses. The missile can be launched from:
Fixed-wing aircraft (AGM-84), without the solid-fuel rocket booster)
Surface ships (RGM-84), fitted with a solid-fuel rocket booster that detaches when expended, to allow the missile's main turbojet to maintain flight)
Submarines (UGM-84), fitted with a solid-fuel rocket booster and encapsulated in a container to enable submerged launch through a torpedo tube);
Coastal defense batteries (RGM-84), from which it would be fired with a solid-fuel rocket booster.
Development
In 1965, the United States Navy began studies for a missile in the range class for use against surfaced submarines. The name Harpoon was assigned to the project. The sinking of the Israeli destroyer in 1967 by a Soviet-built Styx anti-ship missile shocked senior United States Navy officers, who until then had not been appreciative of the threat posed by anti-ship missiles. In 1970 Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Elmo Zumwalt accelerated the development of Harpoon as part of his "Project Sixty" initiative, hoping to add much-needed striking power to U.S. surface warships such as the .
