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Ukraine will receive a new model of Harpoon coastal missile systems from the United States

June 16 2022 at 07:07 am | Kostiantyn Golubtsov

Ukraine will receive two Harpoon coastal missile systems from the United States.

This is stated in a statement to the Pentagon on a new package of military aid worth $ 1 billion.

This is a new type of launchers, which are not in service with the United States, according to Defense One . Coastal complexes will be on a wheeled chassis. The new platform was created by the US military at the request of the Pentagon.

Missiles for coastal complexes, according to an official from the US Department of Defense, will be provided to Ukraine by European countries.

According to the official, production, staff training and direct delivery will take several months.

Boeing is known to have developed the latest versions of the Harpoon RCC coastal complex for Taiwan . The contract for the purchase of the American program of intergovernmental foreign military sales Foreign Military Sales (FMS) was signed a year ago - in May 2021.

According to the contract, 25 Harpoon Coastal Defense Systems (HCDS) batteries were to be delivered to Taiwan by 2028.

It will be recalled that in May it became known that Denmark will hand over to Ukraine the Harpoon coastal complexes , which were previously in the service of this country's fleet. Denmark had two batteries of 2 launchers with 4 guides each. Recently, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov said that Harpoon anti-ship missiles have already strengthened Ukraine's coastal defense.

Harpoon is an anti-ship missile developed by McDonnell Douglas in the 1970s. Its standard version uses active radar homing, it flies above the water surface to evade anti-aircraft weapons. The maximum range is 280 km.

There are modifications of air bases, for use from surface ships, from submarines, as well as for coastal defense.

In later versions, the missile's capabilities are expanded to hit both surface and coastal targets. Harpoon uses inertial GPS navigation to hit land objects and ships. The warhead weighing 227 kg destroys a wide range of targets.