The Standoff Land Attack Missile or SLAM is a subsonic[1], over-the-horizon, all-weather standoff cruise missile which grew out of the United States Navy's Harpoon anti-ship missile in the 1970s.
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The original SLAM
It is now difficult to see any visual similarities between the SLAM-ER and the Harpoon. However, the original SLAM very closely resembled the Harpoon because it shared most of its components with the Harpoon, despite being somewhat longer. This helped reduce development costs and allowed the system to be developed within weeks. The original SLAM was developed at extremely short notice during the Gulf War to meet emergency requirements. It was notable for requiring two aircraft to employ it, ie one to launch the missile and another to provide the data-link. The longer length of the original SLAM compared to Harpoon meant that it flew in a slightly nose-up attitude whilst approaching the target. A number of SLAMs were successfully fired at Iraqi coastal targets during the Gulf War.
The current SLAM
In its current incarnation, the SLAM-ER (expanded response), it is capable of attacking land and sea targets automatically, at long-range (150+ miles), and can also be controlled remotely from the air. It relies on military-grade GPS and infrared imaging for navigation. It can strike both moving and stationary targets.
General Electric provides an Automatic Target Recognition Unit (ATRU)[2] which processes pre-launch and post-launch targeting data, allows high speed video comparison, and enables the SLAM-ER to be used in a true "Fire and Forget" manner.
The cost of a single SLAM-ER is USD $720,000.
The Users of SLAM
Variants
- AGM-84E — Basic SLAM
- AGM-84H — SLAM-ER
- AGM-84K — Internally improved AGM-84H
- SLAM-ER ATA — Version with autonomous target acquisition capability: operated by Republic of Korea Air Force & Turkish Air Force
See also
References
External links
- Boeing (McDonnell-Douglas) AGM/RGM/UGM-84 Harpoon, Designation Systems
- spec sheet, Time
- SLAM-ER, Boeing
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