P-8A Poseidon fires Harpoon, hits mark

After approximately six minutes of flight time, one of NAVAIR’s test aircraft successfully launched a Harpoon missile during a live fire event June 24 in California at the Navy’s Point Mugu Sea Test Range and scored a direct hit on a Low Cost Modular Target.

Completing only one practice dry run, a P-8A Poseidon from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 20 successfully fired a Harpoon AGM-84D Block IC missile from station 10 on the first hot run, which was later confirmed by onsite explosive ordnance disposal personnel.

“The successful launch of one of the U.S. Navy's most dependable over-the-horizon all-weather anti-ship missiles, the Harpoon Block IC, from the P-8A is a significant milestone in naval aviation,” said Capt. Carl Chebi, Precision Strike Weapons (PMA-201) program manager.

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