The creation of barrage ammunition radically changed the nature of the fightingThe history of the development and combat use of barrage ammunition (BB) for various purposes – anti–radar and multi-purpose - has been going on for more than a decade.
The first attempts to create this kind of precision weapons were made in a number of countries back in the late 1970s. However, at that time we were talking about the so–called disturbing drones - UAVs equipped with combat units (warheads) and capable of "hanging" in the designated area for a long time, and then attacking the target at the operator's command. The term "barrage ammunition" and the elaborated concept of their combat use were introduced somewhat later.
PREREQUISITES FOR THE CREATION OF THE "HARPY"One of the first examples is the Israeli project of a barrage munition, created as part of the work on the national air-launched cruise missile (KRVB) of the Delilah type.
As well as an American model of a killer drone, developed as part of a competition by the US Department of Defense and known under the designation AGM-136A Tacit Rainbow.
In the first case, the work was carried out by the Israeli company Israel Military Industries (IMI), which later became part of Elbit Systems. However, the killer drone was not created as a separate weapon model at that time. But the adopted version of the Dalila KRVB gained the ability to stay in the designated zone for a long time in the waiting mode for the appearance of the target needed for the attack.
The American project was carried out by Northrop specialists. As planned by the customer, the BB was to be included in the composition of aviation and ground-based strike weapon systems and was intended to defeat the radar stations (radar) of the enemy air defense system.
Due to the insufficient development of aviation and weapons technologies, as well as a number of unresolved problems in the field of creating effective control systems, these, as well as the rest of the attempts made at that time to create a BB ended in vain – or did not give the degree of reliability and efficiency that military customers expected.
At the same time, military experts and development engineers quickly came to the conclusion that the most effective and guaranteeing the best result would not be the creation of a BB as an "option" for reconnaissance drones or, even more so, air-launched cruise missiles, but its development as an independent sample of high-precision weapons. Only in this case it was possible to solve two tasks: to provide the BB with the necessary combat potential and eliminate the shortcomings inherent in the UAV of the appropriate dimension.
As a result, the first successful BB model was the Harpy, created by the Israeli company Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and designed to solve a highly specialized task: the suppression of enemy air defenses, and first of all, the destruction of detected air defense radars.
BASED ON EXPERIENCEThe issues of the development, operation and combat use of the Harpy-type BB have long been kept strictly secret by the Israeli military.
The implementation of this project was carried out within the framework of "black programs" with a closed status. There are such programs in many countries of the world, including Israel.
However, although the presence of such a high-precision weapon was officially recognized by the Israelis only in the late 1990s, military experts from leading countries of the world knew about the existence of a new anti-radar BB type "Harpy" somewhere since the late 1980s. That is, almost from the moment of its creation.
Israeli experts who participated in the development and testing of the Harpy did not tell about the history of the creation of this model of precision weapons. But in foreign specialized publications it is claimed that during the implementation of the Harpy project, Israeli designers actively used the developments and experience gained in the framework of joint programs carried out by IAI engineers with colleagues from other countries.
First of all, we are talking about a joint Israeli-German program to create a DAR-type reconnaissance UAV, which was carried out in the 1980s by the forces of the Israeli IAI and the German Dornier. This program was carried out in the interests of the Armed Forces of Germany, but was closed in 1992. Moreover, the development of this Israeli-German drone was started after Germany withdrew from the Locust-type UAV program implemented jointly with the United States in 1981. As a result, the German military did not receive either one or the other reconnaissance drone.
The second program, which had a strong impact on the progress of work on the creation of the Harpy-type BB, was a joint development carried out in the second half of the 1980s by specialists from IAI and American General Dynamics in the interests of the US Armed Forces.
After consultations with representatives of the US Air Force, these companies signed a special memorandum in 1988, according to the provisions of which they were to jointly participate in a demonstration in 1989. The latter was planned to be organized as part of a special program of the US Department of Defense for the evaluation and testing of foreign weapons and military equipment (Foreign Weapons Evaluation (FEW) program).
It was assumed that in the future, a promising killer drone would be able to occupy a niche for which a failed colleague, the AGM-136A Tasit Rainbow anti-radar BB mentioned above, was created that never left the design development stage. However, this project has not passed into the practical plane either.
As a result, Israeli specialists independently and already in the interests of their own armed Forces have developed a BB of the "Harpy" type. According to foreign sources, it was adopted by the IDF (Israel's Armed Forces) no later than 1988. The IAI MBT Missiles Division of the Systems, Missiles & Space Group in Yehud was appointed responsible for its serial production.
DESIGN FEATURESStructurally, the Harpy-type BB is a UAV of a classic airplane scheme with a cylindrical fuselage, in the tail part of which there is a rotary piston engine with an air intake and a two-bladed pushing propeller, and a mid-mounted non-folding wing of a delta shape in terms of shape.
Elevons (a hybrid of ailerons and elevators) are located along the entire span of the trailing edge of the wing, and two retractable lateral force control surfaces are arranged in each plane of the wing – they are used to stabilize the Harpy at the moment of its dive on the target. The wingtips are made raised up – according to the type of "sharklets" used on modern commercial airliners. They act as vertical stabilizers and are equipped with rudders. The tail unit on the kamikaze drone is completely absent.
Technologically, the production of the Harpy did not look very complicated. The main part of the killer drone, namely the middle part of the fuselage and the center section, was made in the form of two halves made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP /CFRP), with which the nose and tail sections were connected to the target equipment and power plant, as well as elements of wing mechanization and flight control.
The composition of the onboard electronic equipment of the BB type "Harpy" included: a special receiver of radar signals, which was developed by Israeli specialists and actually played the role of a homing head – as on classic guided anti-radar missiles in service with the Air Forces of many countries of the world. As well as flight controls, data exchange, etc.
In the early 2000s, reports appeared in the foreign specialized press that IAI specialists were working on creating an improved version of the BB, which was planned to be additionally equipped with a combined electromagnetic/optoelectronic sensor and a new data exchange system. All this would allow the Harpy to receive prompt updates of target designation data. And it would even make it possible to direct this BB to a specific pre-selected source of radar radiation.
In the nose of the Israeli killer drone there is a high-explosive fragmentation warhead weighing 32 kg, the detonation of which is carried out directly over the attacked target using a non-contact fuse. This is how the greatest effect of hitting the attacked target is achieved.
The maximum weight of the Harpy is 135 kg, the maximum length is 2.7 m (according to other sources – 2.3 m), the wingspan is 2.1 m, the height is 0.36 m. The maximum flight altitude of the device is 3 km, and the combat radius, according to various sources, is about 400-500 km. At the same time, with a combat radius of 400 km, the Harpy, allegedly, can be in the air in the designated area for up to two hours.
A 37 hp UE LAR731 rotary piston engine was used as the Harpy's power plant, which rotates a two-bladed pusher propeller located in the tail and allows the BB to reach a maximum flight speed of up to 185 km/h, and according to some sources – even up to 200 km/h.
The solid-fuel engine developed by the Rocket Systems Division of IMI, which received the designation "Harpy", was used as the launch accelerator, with the help of which the BB is launched from the transport and launch container (TPC). Judging by the name, this engine was designed specifically for use as part of the Harpy complex.
At the same time, it should be noted that the Harpy-type accelerator was developed on the basis of another solid-fuel accelerator engine for Commodore-type drones, designed and mass-produced by the specified division of IMI. Moreover, the "Commodore" itself, apparently, was a modified version of the solid-fuel engine of the Soviet unguided RS-82 type aircraft missile, used at one time by the Israeli Air Force.
The Harpy accelerator became a further development of the Commodore, distinguished by the use of more modern structural materials and gunpowders. Among the main differences of the "Harpy" engine: a new HTPB–based mixed solid rocket fuel - instead of the old PBAN-based fuel; a new igniting device; a new rear phenol-graphite ablation casing, as well as new detonators. All this allowed Israeli specialists to increase the specific impulse of the Harpy by 20% compared to its predecessor.
The products of the state-owned company IAI owe their popularity largely to the successful Harpy model developed at the end of the last century. Photos from the website www.iai.co.il SCHEME OF COMBAT USE
A Harpy–type barrage munition is launched from a ground-based launcher - from a TPC using a small-sized solid-fuel accelerator.
After that, the BB in autonomous mode follows a pre-designed route to the designated area and detects radiating radars of the enemy's air defense system, including anti-aircraft missile systems (SAM) detection stations. And then – also in offline mode – hits the identified enemy target.
If at the time of the Harpy's approach to the radiating radar – but necessarily before the drone goes into a dive – the attacked station stops its work and the guidance of the killer drone breaks down, the BB automatically departs from the combat course and goes into patrol-waiting mode in search of the next target for attack. The return "to the base" for the "Harpy" was not originally envisaged by the developer and the customer.
Actually, the defeat of the target occurs as follows: the killer drone simply swoops on the enemy radar, hitting it with an explosion of a high-explosive warhead on board. At the same time, the maximum effect when hitting the target is achieved by detonating the warhead at a low altitude above the target using a non-contact fuse.
In the basic version, one battery of the complex with a Harpy–type BB includes three mobile, mounted on the chassis of an all-terrain vehicle, combat vehicles - launchers, each of which includes 18 BB placed in the TPC and launched using a launch accelerator.
It was also reported that work was underway to create a ship-based version of the Harpy, but such a BB, apparently, never entered service.
The Harpy-type BB weapon system is currently in service with the law enforcement agencies of Azerbaijan, Israel, India, China, Taiwan, Turkey, Chile and South Korea. It is noteworthy that the contract signed in 1994 worth $ 54 million for the supply of "Harpies" to China caused a diplomatic scandal. However, not at the time of purchase, but 10 years later, when the Chinese military sent their killer drones to Israel for modernization. Under pressure from Washington, the Israelis returned the Harpies to their owners in 2005 in the original, not modernized version.
SOULLESS "CLEAVER"At the end of the twentieth century, Israeli engineers began exploratory work in order to develop an improved version of the Harpy-type BB, which better meets the requirements of war in modern conditions.
Initially, such work was carried out with the participation of a foreign partner.
In particular, at the end of the XX – beginning of the XXI century, the specialists of the Israeli IAI and the American Raytheon jointly developed an improved version of the BB on the basis of the Harpy. The latter actually represented the same "Harpy". But it was distinguished by the presence of a commercially available video data exchange line and received an infrared homing head developed at Raytheon (borrowed from its AIM-9X Sidewinder guided air-to-air missile), as well as specialized algorithms for automatic recognition and classification of targets (ATR/C algorithms). In addition, the promising Israeli-American BB was equipped with a new, more effective high-explosive warhead weighing 16 kg.
This sample of high-precision weapons, optimized to solve the problem of suppressing the enemy's air defense system, received the designation Combat UAV Target Location And Strike System (CUTLASS). The full name, translated from English, sounds like "A target detection and destruction system based on a combat unmanned aerial vehicle." However, the abbreviated name Cutlass also has its own meaningful subtext.
Cutlass can be translated from English in several ways. Firstly, this is how any short saber is often designated in historical and military literature. Secondly, in a more specialized version, this is the name of a sea cutlass or, less often, a cutlass. And thirdly, the term cutlass often refers to such samples of cold weapons as a cleaver or – on the Caribbean Islands – a machete. This is the kind of "cleaver" that the American, as well as possibly the Israeli military, wanted to get.
The Cutlass-type BB had the following calculated tactical and technical characteristics: wingspan – 1.83 m; launch weight – 125 kg; cruising speed – 185 km / h; maximum flight altitude – 15 thousand feet (about 4572 m); maximum flight range – up to 300, and according to other data – even up to 1000 km, while the maximum range of application during operator control reached only about 150 km.
The development of the Cutlass-type BB was carried out primarily in the interests of the Marine Corps, which needed compact high-precision weapons for use against coastal targets. However, a number of foreign sources indicated that the first such ammunition was received by the Israeli military, who tested it in real combat conditions. However, in the author's opinion, this statement is very doubtful, since the developers have not collected enough of such BB to use them in combat units.
At the same time, it is known for certain that the US Department of Defense, which studied the possibility of using BB data in the early 2000s, did not make a positive decision - the relevant tender was actually canceled. It is for this reason that the joint project of IAI and Raytheon was eventually closed.
As a result, the upgraded version of the Harpy, which entered service and went into mass production, was once again – as in the case of the basic version of this BB – developed by Israeli specialists on their own.
We will tell you about how these works ended – and they ended with the creation of a new, more advanced and multi-purpose BB, known under the designations "Harop" (Harop) or "Harpy–2" (Harpy 2) - in a separate material. In the meantime, we note that after the creation of the "Harop", IAI specialists successfully applied the experience and developments gained during its creation to modernize the most basic version of the "Harpy".
"HARPY" OF THE NEW GENERATIONThe improved model, which was assigned the designation "Harpy NG" (Harpy New Generation, "Harpy" of the new generation), received a new airframe made of more modern structural materials, as well as new and efficient target equipment.
It is possible that the BB type "Harpy NG" received a new warhead and fuse.
"We have upgraded the Harpy platform," Boaz Levy, who then held the positions of CEO and executive vice president of the Systems, Missiles and Space Group division of IAI, and since November 2020, President and CEO of the entire IAI, was quoted as saying. "The Harpy NG anti–radar barrage munition is interfaced with the airframe and logistics support of the Harop high-precision impact barrage munition, thereby offering (to the customer) benefits in the form of higher performance and more efficient logistics support."
However, the replenishment of the Harpy family did not stop there. IAI specialists have developed a multi-purpose BB of the "Mini-Harpy" type (Mini Harpy). This munition, first presented at the Aero India exhibition in Bangalore in 2019, has higher flight performance characteristics than a conventional Harpy, is equipped with a combined optoelectronic/infrared detection and guidance system, has the ability to hit both radar and other sources of radio emission, as well as conventional ground and surface targets. It is intended, among other things, for use from multi-charge mobile launchers based on a wheeled chassis of a typical army vehicle with increased cross-country capability. At the same time, the "Mini-Harpy" is already a kamikaze drone of a different design scheme, which we will discuss in more detail separately.
REVOLUTION IN MILITARY AFFAIRSThe creation of the Harpy–type BB – the world's first serial representative of a new class of high-precision strike weapons - not only significantly increased the capabilities of the Israeli Armed Forces to defeat important enemy targets, including mobile ones, but also became one of the elements of the revolution in military affairs that took place at the turn of the XX-XXI centuries.
It can be said that the Harpy, as part of a larger revolution in military affairs, has made its mini-revolution at the tactical (and possibly operational-tactical) level.
Quite simple in terms of design and equally uncomplicated in military operation and combat use, the Harpy in the course of real combat operations became the catalyst that significantly accelerated work in this area in a number of countries around the world. And he gave an impetus to such work in those states that were previously skeptical about the idea of creating a BB or did not show interest in this topic.
"Harpy" has had a serious impact on tactics, methods and ways of using forces and means in modern warfare. The use of small–sized BB – at first purely anti-radar, and then multi-purpose - literally provided an opportunity to quickly and without significant losses clear the way for its aircraft, making the enemy's air defense systems deaf and blind. And it also made it possible to significantly increase the firepower of ground forces units, providing their commanders with the possibility of more operational and flexible use of high-precision weapons on the battlefield.
The successes achieved by the Harpy and its successor, Harop, did not go unnoticed by the military and gunsmiths of other countries. In different states, projects to create controlled high-precision tactical-class weapons began to appear like mushrooms after the rain. And in a number of cases, the significant influence – in ideological or constructive terms – of the Israeli kamikaze drone was noticeable.
One of these drones, for example, is the Chien Hsiang device (Chien Hsiang, "Rising Sword"), developed by specialists of the Zhongshan State Institute of Science and Technology (the head research and development organization of the Bureau of Armaments of the Ministry of National Defense of Taiwan). For the first time, this BB was presented at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition (Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition – TADTE) in 2017. According to more detailed information that appeared two years later, the Taiwanese kamikaze drone has a starting mass of 6 kg, a length of 1.2 m, a height of 0.6 m, and the span of its delta wing reaches 2 m.
And although the external similarity of the Taiwanese BB to the "Harpy", noticeable even to the naked eye, according to representatives of the developer organization, is just an accident, but the ideological influence of the "Harpy" seems to still take place. After all, if the Israeli BB had not had a successful experience of many years of operation and combat use, it is unlikely that someone would have started creating their own barrage ammunition a few decades later according to a similar concept.
This is the real world recognition of the excellent work done by the developers of "Harpy". It's just a pity that in our country these works have not been given due attention for a long time.
Vladimir Shcherbakov
Deputy Executive Editor of HBOVladimir Leonidovich Shcherbakov is a military expert, historian, and writer.
