Recently, the Ukrainian armed forces shelled Russia's Belgorod region for the first time, using the US-produced air-to-ground weapon AGM-88 Hamm high-speed anti-radar missile. Recently, the Ukrainian Air Force MiG-29 launched a high-speed anti-radiation missile AGM-88 at the Belgorod Airport, located 50 kilometers from the Russian-Ukrainian border, destroying the Belgorod Airport S-300! . "Ham" is used to suppress and destroy enemy guidance radars. It began development in 1972 and entered service in 1983. It is widely equipped in more than 10 countries of the US Navy, Air Force and North Atlantic Treaty Organization .
This missile was in service in U.S. Army in 1983. Although it has been almost 40 years, it is still very advanced for missiles. The missile is capable of effectively handling high-frequency radar stations, and its latest upgraded models can even hit using so-called "frequency hopping" radars.
As early as August, Pentagon announced the supply of "a certain number of anti-radar missiles" to Ukraine, and refused to disclose details such as the number, model and time of the transaction.
Now Ham high-speed anti-radar missiles appear on the Ukrainian battlefield. These debris of the shot down missiles have the marking characteristics of AGM-88 HARM - "BSU-60 A/B". Earlier, the Ukrainian armed forces hoped to destroy four Russian S-300 air defense systems and Kaijia-S1 air defense systems simultaneously through the Ham high-speed anti-radar missile.
So who gave it to the Ukrainian Ham high-speed anti-radar missile? After all, there is no such missile on the list of aid published on the official website of White House . Therefore, these are either delivered under the cover of a third country (Spain, Greek or the same Turkey) or additional aid outside the official program framework.
Hamm high-speed anti-radar missile was developed by Texas Instruments, a well-known American semiconductor equipment manufacturer, and manufactured by Raytheon . It was created to replace the outdated AGM-45 Shrek. The first combat use occurred during Operation Eldorado Canyon in 1986 (US bombing of Libya ).
Its characteristic is that it can blind the air defense missile system and guide the passive radar seeker according to the beam operating radar . Unlike its predecessor, such missiles do not lose targets even after changing the frequency locator or shutting down completely. Its speed is about 2400 km/h and its flight range is 25 to 150 km. The price of a Hamm high-speed anti-radar missile depends on the model, ranging from $2.84 million to $994,000.
Generally speaking, although missiles are not new products, they are indeed advanced.
So, what platform does Ukraine use to launch Ham high-speed anti-radar missiles?
In the United States, F-16 fighter and F/A-18 Bumblebee are generally used, and Ukraine may redesign it to adapt it to the former Soviet-made fighter .
However, it is a very technically complex task to modify Western missiles to fire control of Soviet aircraft, which is more difficult than developing missiles.
Later on August 31, a video material was published on the Ukrainian Air Force website, saying that the MiG-29 driven by Major Yevheng Lisenko of the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched the AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missile. According to Forbes magazine , Ukrainian pilots used a "blind" launch mode, which does not require avionics.
In early September, a Su-27S from the Ukrainian Air Force was found to be equipped with Ham high-speed anti-radar missile. That is, it turns out that the fire control of Soviet aircraft was able to handle missions without the need for basic changes and expensive upgrades.
But let's go back to the US Ham high-speed anti-radar missile's missile attack on the Belgorod region. More precisely, it's its result. On October 12, about a hundred missiles were used to large-scale strikes against Belgorod, and most of these missiles were shot down by the Russian air defense system - indiscriminately.
The soap bubble of the Ukrainian troops broke down. According to the US itself, Ham's high-speed anti-radar missile was invincible, but the one in Russia was somehow unsuccessful.
