The "Slam" missile is a derivative of the US Navy based on the airborne "Harpoon" anti-ship missile, which is the English abbreviation of the long-range ground attack missile. It was tested in November 1989 and was scheduled to be equipped in August 1991 and deployed ahead of schedule due to the outbreak of the Gulf War.
Performance characteristics
1. Long range, high survival rate of carrier aircraft.
2. Adopt mature technology, stable and reliable performance. It is composed of the body of the Harpoon missile, the seeker of the Maverick missile, the data link of the White Star Eye bomb and the GPS receiver.
3. High precision. The hit deviation does not exceed 10 meters.
Identify characteristics
1. The warhead is shaped by sharp angles, the two sides are obliquely crossed by the middle line, and the front end forms a sharp angle perpendicular to the plane where the projectile body is located, that is, the vertical projectile line is formed in front of the warhead.
2. Switch to two sets of control airfoils, the first group is located at the bottom of the projectile body, 4 pieces, trapezoidal, and the second group of bow wings is changed to 2 pieces, located in the middle of the projectile body, with a large wingspan and a slight sweep.
Practical application
During the Gulf War, "Slam" showed high accuracy. On 18 January 1991, two A-6E attack planes and one A-7E attack plane carrying "Slam" missiles took off from the aircraft carrier Kennedy deployed in the Red Sea and entered the missile launch position. One of the A-6Es was launched first, and under the control of A-7E aircraft, the first Slam missile blew a large hole about 10 meters in diameter in an Iraqi power station building; Two minutes later, another A-6E fired a second Slam, which pierced through the hole opened by the first missile and destroyed the power station from the inside. The missile was also used by the U.S. military during Operation Desert Solitude and the Kosovo War.