Lodamun

[imperialpearl]

In a press call with potential investors and interested parties, Harrington Dynamics unveiled that it had begun research and development of a new long-range anti-ship cruise missile for the Lodamese Navy, with the hopes of replacing or augmenting the current Tomahawk and Harpoon anti-ship missiles, which have seen decades, if not centuries, of use. The weapon’s unveiling comes amidst renewed interest within the Department of Defence with respect to the development and subsequent deployment of advanced, long-range strike weapons as it contemplates a future wherein the Ldoamese Armed Forces is capable of launching deadly attacks from ever-increasing distances between targets. Although during the investor call, Harrington Dynamics only spoke to the weapon’s digital rendering, noting that it would, similar to the Azuron drone, possess an advanced sensors and systems suite, in a follow-up interview, an HD official stated that this extends to stealth and data-link capabilities. The official noted that the current stock of anti-ship missiles, although having proved themselves as capable pieces of equipment in short to medium-range engagements, where ultimately incapable of being ‘scaled up’ to become useful in long-range engagements. “I think the direction the DoD wants to go now is with long-range engagements; standoff munitions which would allow for the relevant branches to engage targets at a much greater distance than they would now,” the HD official explained. Harrington Dynamics’ design reportedly borrows numerous lessons from a testbed once developed by the Armed Forces Projects Agency (AFPA). This testbed, which had been known internally as the ASCMTD (Anti-Ship Cruise Missile Test Demonstrator), sought to test whether integrating numerous sub-systems including jam-resistant GPS/INS, an imaging infrared (IIR infrared homing) seeker with automatic scene/target matching recognition, data-link, passive electronic support measures (ESM), and radar warning receiver sensors, would be possible within a singular platform. The AFPA’s findings, which remain classified, seemed to have been shared with the engineers at Harrington Dynamics, as their proposed ‘Extended-Range Naval Strike Missile’ design borrows much from the ASCMTD, including its design. In speaking with experts on how a weapon of this nature could ultimately transform maritime strike engagements in the future, it was revealed that if Harrington Dynamics is capable of demonstrating that the munition can be deployed and ultimately fired/launched from varying platforms including ships and aircraft, it may bring a swift end to the navy’s use of the TASM (Tomahawk Anti-Ship Missile) as an intermediate range weapon. “If they [Harrington Dynamics] can demonstrate that this can be dropped from a Heron (B1-B Lancer) or any other aircraft or potentially launched from a VLS (vertical launch system) onboard a ship, it would make something like the TASM completely useless since it [the TSAM] acts as a stand-in for a dedicated long-range anti-ship missile,” Willis Harding, an analyst at the National Institute for Defence Research, explained. The company has noted that research and development on the platform is still ongoing, with significant work related to the munition’s supposed stealth profile and its network-centric capabilities to be completed.