The AGM-88C HARM (High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missle) is an airborne guided missile that searches for and destroys radar transmitters. It is used to combat enemy SAM positions (Surface-to-Air Missle). Depending on the altitude from which it is fired, it can achieve a range of up to 80 nautical miles (see table below).

It is designed to explode near the radar antenna, still in the air, to achieve the highest possible damage from the fragmentation effect.

It can be used in three different modes:

• Self-Protection (SP)
• Target of Opportunity (TOO)
• Pre-Briefed (PB)

The SP mode was the first to be introduced in the early access phase of the F/A-18C. The TOO mode followed as the second and the PB mode has not yet been implemented in DCS at the time of this writing. It will be described later, as soon as it is available in the game.

Tactics

The HARM is a fire-and-forget weapon. This means that after firing it will steer itself into the target and you can turn.

In SEAD missions (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) you move within the range of the SAM positions. This means that the programming of the countermeasures must be set correctly and you should turn off after firing the HARM to avoid entering the danger zone. One method is to make good use of the terrain to prevent your own detection and then fire the missile at the last moment and turn away.

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The HARM cannot determine whether it is already in range. If the position of the SAM is known, it makes sense to set a waypoint on it. Then you can display the distance and estimate when the HARM should be fired. If the position is not known there are two methods:

1. Estimate and fire at good luck or better
2. get switched on by the SAM, select this SAM position and fire the HARM as soon as the first rocket has been fired at you from the SAM position. Then you are safely in range.
   Of course you have to perform a defensive maneuver (Split-S, i.e. downswing, to significantly reduce height and escape) and use countermeasures (chaffs).
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HOTAS

On the HOTAS the function "RAID/FLIR FOV - Selector" (keyboard I) should be assigned. It is used to switch through the individual targets on the HARM.

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Range

The following table is from the HARM-Tutorial-Video from RedKite:

As you can clearly see, the range increases significantly with the altitude and speed of your F/A-18C. On the other hand, the higher the altitude, the better the enemy radar can detect you. This increases the danger of being chased by interceptors. And the range of the SAM also increases, so that some YouTuber recommend attacking at medium altitude (approx. 15,000 ft).

Even though you can fire the HARM from any angle to the target (360°), large correction movements will significantly limit the range of the missile!