U.S. Navy Patrol Squadron TEN (VP-10) successfully conducted a coordinated missile launch with Patrol Squadron FOUR (VP-4) using two Air to Surface Missile (AGM-84) Harpoons against a decommissioned Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate, USS Rodney M. Davis (FFG 60), during Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2022. Petty Officer 3rd Class Diego Alva worked with other Aviation Ordnancemen (AO) from VP-10 and VP-4 to ensure that the Harpoons were safely loaded onto the aircraft. Members of the maintenance teams properly serviced the aircraft while flight crews from both squadrons worked as one team to ensure proper coordination of the flights, mission timeline and missile launch.
Patrol Squadron 10 (VP-10) is a United States Navy Patrol Squadron based at Naval Air Station Jacksonville in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. It is nicknamed the “Red Lancers” and is equipped with the Boeing P-8A Poseidon. It is the third squadron to be designated VP-10. The first VP-10 was redesignated VP-2D15 on 21 September 1927 and the second VP-10 was redesignated VP-25 on 1 July 1939. The squadron is preparing to conduct maritime patrol and reconnaissance as well as theatre outreach operations within U.S. Seventh Fleet area of operations.
The Harpoon is an all-weather, over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile developed and manufactured by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing Defense, Space & Security). The missile can be launched from: Fixed-wing aircraft (the AGM-84, without the solid-fuel rocket booster); Surface ships (the RGM-84, fitted with a solid-fuel rocket booster that detaches when expended, to allow the missile’s main turbojet to maintain flight); Submarines (the UGM-84, fitted with a solid-fuel rocket booster and encapsulated in a container to enable submerged launch through a torpedo tube);
Coastal defense batteries, from which it would be fired with a solid-fuel rocket booster.
RIMPAC is the world’s largest international maritime exercise, including 26 nations, 38 ships, four submarines, more than 170 aircraft and 25,000 personnel. Running from June 29 to August 4 in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California, it provides a unique training opportunity while fostering and sustaining cooperative relationships among participants critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s oceans. RIMPAC 2022 is the 28th exercise in the series that began in 1971.
