The US Navy has awarded Boeing a $1.17 billion contract to produce and deliver 400 Harpoon tactical missiles and support equipment.
In addition to 400 RGM-84L-4 Harpoon Block II Update (HIIU) Grade B canister tactical missiles, the contract includes four RTM-84L-4 Block II HIIU Grade B canister exercise missiles, Harpoon Coastal Defense System (HCDS) spares, containers, blast test vehicles, and technical publications.
Nearly two-thirds (63 percent or $629.7 million) of the award is reserved for foreign military sales. While the Pentagon did not disclose the names of the foreign customers, Taiwan is a known purchaser.
Deliveries of the Harpoon coastal missile defense system to the Asian country are expected to be completed by 2028, part of a 2020 $2.37-billion package that includes more than 400 missiles, 100 launchers, radars, and support equipment.
Harpoon Coastal Defense System
The Harpoon Coastal Defense System is a land-based version of the Harpoon Block II anti-ship missile, designed to strike “coastal defense sites, surface-to-air missile sites, exposed aircraft, port/industrial facilities and ships in port.”
The system’s launcher is truck-mountable, fired from the rear of the chassis through container launchers.
The platform comes with RGM-84L-4 Harpoon Block II surface-launched missiles that have a 75-mile (120-kilometer) range. The missile features “active radar guidance, low-level, sea-skimming cruise trajectory, terminal mode sea-skim or pop-up maneuvers.”
The Harpoon is deployed by around 20 countries, including the United States, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, Israel, and the United Kingdom.
The Pentagon is also providing Harpoon missiles to Ukraine for its defense against the Russian invasion. Denmark has also pledged the missiles to the embattled country.
