What is the standard load for an F-16 SEAD operation?
Thanks
AGM-88 HARM and cluster munitions
would it be odd looking to see a HARM on one pylon and a JDAM on the other? I splurged and got the Tamiya 1/32 and I’m really tryin my best on it.
no not really especially when Navy F-18 SEAD aircraft sometimes fly with a HARM missile and a JDAM bomb but still regular SEAD loadout is 2 HARMS on the outboard pylons and with 12 MK20 Rockeye cluster munitions on the inboard pylons on MERs sometimes 6 AGM65 Maverick laser guided missiles on the inboards.
That’s just slightly something of a different animal as the Navy has taken to use “embedded HARM shooters” - ie one or two of the main strike package also carrying HARM to open the HARM window. So, it would be fairly common to see a Hornet carrying one HARM, some JDAM or LGB, and whatever air to air ordnance the threat dictated, while elsewhere in the strike you would see Hornets with 3 (or in the case of E’s or F’s 4) HARM.
But for the record I am aware of F-16s carrying HARM and JDAM.
Every SEAD Viper I’ve ever seen has 2 AGM-88’s outboard with 2 fuel tanks inboard. An electronic jammer is often mounted centerline, and some form of air-to-air is carried wingtip. I’m not disputing the possibility of carrying a JDAM as well, but generally, a SEAD mission is just that, and a strike package would be fitted on another aircraft.
On the same note, however, I considerably doubt that a “regular” SEAD mission carries 12 Rockeyes. Do you have any pictures of this, Mikeym_us??
Howdy all,
I found this article about SEAD missions and thought that it was interesting: Although this article centers around the SEAD mission for the 52nd FW out of Germany.
"Even after these new smart weapons become part of the 52nd’s arsenal, the Block 50 F-16s of the 22nd and 23rd Fighter Squadrons will continue to use the AGM-88 high-speed antiradiation missile, or HARM, as the weapon of choice for their primary mission—suppression of enemy air defenses.
SEAD BACKGROUND
The AGM-88 HARM suppresses enemy air defenses by detecting radar emissions associated with surface-to-air missile, or SAM, sites, propelling itself at supersonic speeds at the emitters, and destroying the emitters with a small warhead. Block 30, 50, and 52 F-16s are the only USAF aircraft equipped to carry HARMs. (EA-6B and F-18s fly SEAD missions with HARM for the US Navy. Tornados carry HARMs for the German and Italian air forces.)
F-16s have been involved with the SEAD mission even before the Block 50 was introduced. In the Gulf War, Block 30 F-16s loaded with HARMs accompanied F-4G Wild Weasels in what was called mixed pairs. The F-4Gs located SAM sites and passed targeting information to the F-16s, which helped destroy the sites. The advanced capabilities of the F-16 Block 50/52 allowed USAF F-16s to take over the SEAD role from the F-4G Wild Weasel shortly after the Gulf War when F-4s were phased out of USAF inventory. Block 50 F-16s performed the SEAD mission extensively during Operation Allied Force.
The Block 50/52 HARM capability was refined by the HARM targeting system in the early 1990s. The system, represented by a small pod on the right chin of the inlet, consists of specialized software and a super sensitive receiver that detects, classifies, and ranges threats and then passes the information to the HARM and to display screens in the cockpit.
The proliferation of SAMs around the globe has accentuated the need for SEAD. Before any allied strike aircraft crosses into hostile territory, odds are that an aircraft carrying HARMs is clearing the way. In many respects, SEAD has become prerequisite for air superiority. The SEAD mission for the US Air Force falls entirely on the shoulders of Block 50 and 52 F-16 squadrons located at Spangdahlem and at four other bases—Misawa in Japan, Mountain Home in Idaho, and Shaw and McEntire in South Carolina.
SEAD missions fall into two categories, A and C. In SEAD A, SAM sites and their associated radars are detected and targeted to prevent them from operating. In SEAD C, SAM sites are destroyed with a HARM shot or with other munitions, including Maverick missiles and bombs. Hostile SAM batteries, once thought of as relatively fixed installations, have turned into dynamic threats that move from day to day.
“Our mission planning leans heavily on intelligence about SAMs and their tactics,” explains Capt. Todd Seger of the 23rd FS. “Our ability to react immediately to ground threats in the air is one reason why no one will go on a strike mission without a Block 50 around.”
The weapons most often associated with the mission are Anti Radiation Missiles (ARMs) such as the American AGM-88 HARM. The AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-radiation Missile is an air-to-surface tactical missile designed to seek out and destroy enemy radar-equipped air defense systems.
Possibly the most effective type of unguided (‘dumb’) weapon used during SEAD strikes are cluster bombs because of the fact that many SAM sites are dispersed over a fairly wide area in order to increase the difficulty of inflicting serious damage on the battery and the relative ‘softness’ of the targets (missile launchers/TELs, exposed radars, etc.).
In particular the US JSOW is an effective weapon for attacking SAM sites due to its fairly long standoff range which allows the lauching aircraft to avoid being threatened by all but the longest range missiles and its relatively large area of destruction against soft targets
