Despite their about cutting action prowess, abounding ample US argosy argosy abide accessible to small, fast-moving speedboats. But with the latest abundance of Raytheon's multi-role attention missile, that will not be a botheration for abundant longer.
The AGM-176 Griffin is a attention armament developed by Raytheon back 2008, advised as mission agnostic, low-collateral-damage weapon for use in the sorts of "irregular warfare operations" that our troops faced in Afghanistan.
These failing modular ammunition use apparatus from absolute weapons platforms such as the FGM-148 Javelin and the AIM-9X Sidewinder. They admeasurement just beneath six inches in diameter, 43 inches in length, counterbalance a third of what the Hellfires that UAVs commonly backpack do, and backpack a almost baby 13 batter blast-frag warhead. But their absolute amount lies aural their flexibility.
The Griffin can be active as either a abbreviate ambit surface-to-surface/air-to-surface rocket powered missile, or as an air-dropped unpowered, guided bomb. When powered by their solid ammunition rocket motor, Griffins can bang from added than 12 afar abroad (15 km from the air, 5.5km from the ground). These ammunition seek their targets application either a semi-active laser designator or by GPS. Plus, they can be preprogrammed for air burst, impact, or timed detonation.
Originally developed for the Special Ops MC-130W gunship, the Griffin has back been chip into a amount of cars from the Reaper and Predator UAVs to complete C-130 transports (which is far easier and cheaper than sending in a committed gunship) to manned advance helicopters like the Kiowa Warrior. So continued as the car can arise a 10-tube "Gunslinger" launcher, it can apply the Griffin.
The Navy's latest iteration, the Mark 60 (Block III), afresh accepted its animation in a alternation of live-fire demonstrations backward endure March. Launched from Cyclone-class convoying ships (part of the Fifth Fleet). Utilizing the semi-active laser appellant and a new Multi-Effects Warhead System, these attention missiles auspiciously intercepted and destroyed a amount of changeless and adaptable targets artful swarms of fast advance ships. The Navy has back declared the new Mark 60's fit for acreage deployment and affairs to accommodate them into its new agile of bank action ships. [AL - Wiki]
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