HMAS Hobart conducts a live fire exercise using the vertically launched RIM-66 Standard Missile 2 (SM2) as a test of capability before proceeding to their Unit Readiness Evaluation (URE).
By Malcolm Davis*
The Royal Australian Navy has neglected long-range naval surface-warfare capability for too long.
Its new Hobart-class air warfare destroyers represent Australia’s most advanced naval combatant introduced into operational service, but their main anti-ship and land-attack missile, the RGM-84 Harpoon Block II, has a range of only 124 kilometres, is subsonic and has an explosive payload of just 272 kilograms.
