Spanish F-101 Aegis Frigate Launches Harpoon Anti-Ship Missile During US-Led RIMPAC 2026.

Spain’s Álvaro de Bazán-class frigate F-101 fired an RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missile during the maritime phase of RIMPAC 2026 near Hawaii, the Spanish Navy announced on July 18. The launch demonstrated the frigate’s ability to deliver long-range anti-surface firepower within a large multinational force, although the lack of data on the target, range, warhead and impact limits any assessment of terminal performance.

The firing formed part of a wider exercise involving 30 nations, more than 30 surface ships, five submarines, and 206 aircraft. Its main operational value lies in testing multinational targeting, command authorization, and range-control procedures needed to coordinate missile engagements in a high-intensity maritime campaign.

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Spanish Navy frigate Álvaro de Bazán (F-101) fires an RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missile during RIMPAC 2026 near Hawaii, demonstrating its ability to conduct over-the-horizon maritime strike missions within a multinational force (Picture source: Spanish MoD).

The Spanish Navy identifies F-101’s anti-ship armament as eight Harpoon 1C missiles, normally carried in two four-round Mk 141 deck launchers amidships. The surface-launched Block 1C belongs to the RGM-84D family and remains separate from the frigate’s 48-cell Mk 41 vertical launching system, which carries SM-2 area-defense missiles and quad-packed ESSM missiles. This arrangement means the Harpoon inventory cannot be increased by reallocating Mk 41 cells, and a ship that begins a deployment with eight rounds has no more than eight anti-ship missile engagements unless it can reload in port. The Spanish announcement does not state how many missiles the F-101 carried before the exercise, so it cannot be assumed that the frigate retained seven rounds after the shot. The ship also carries a 127 mm Mk 45 Mod 2 gun, two 20 mm weapons, four 323 mm torpedo tubes, and provision for one SH-60B Seahawk helicopter.

The missile itself is a 4.6-meter weapon with a diameter of 343 millimeters, a wingspan of 0.91 meters, and a launch weight of about 691 kilograms when fitted with its solid-propellant booster. After leaving the canister, the booster accelerates the missile and then separates; a Teledyne turbojet sustains the cruise phase at approximately 855 km/h. Published U.S. data give the Harpoon a range greater than 60 nautical miles, or about 111 kilometers, although actual reach varies with flight profile, routing, and fuel reserves. At that speed, a maximum-range flight based on the conservative 111-kilometer figure takes roughly eight minutes. The missile carries a steel-cased penetrating blast warhead weighing about 221 kilograms, containing approximately 98 kilograms of DESTEX explosive. The effect depends on impact location: penetration near machinery spaces, fuel systems, or ammunition-handling areas can produce fire, flooding, and loss of propulsion even when the target does not sink immediately.

Before launch, the ship’s command-launch equipment loads target position, course, speed, seeker activation point and flight-path instructions into the missile. The Block 1C then navigates toward the predicted target area using inertial guidance and a radar altimeter, descends to a low sea-skimming altitude, and activates its own radar seeker during the terminal phase. It can approach in sea-skim mode or perform a terminal pop-up maneuver, depending on mission programming. Low flight reduces the distance at which a defending radar can detect the missile because the curvature of the Earth masks it below the radar horizon. For a radar antenna 20 to 30 meters above the water and a missile flying several meters above the surface, detection may occur only at roughly 25 to 30 kilometers under favorable conditions. At 855 km/h, that geometry provides approximately 105 to 126 seconds between detection and impact, before allowing for classification, weapon assignment, and interceptor flight time. Sea state, radar height, electronic support measures, and airborne warning can alter that interval substantially.

The principal constraint is targeting rather than propulsion. F-101’s surface-search radar cannot generate a direct line-of-sight track at the outer edge of Harpoon range because a surface ship disappears below the radar horizon. The frigate therefore requires an offboard report from another warship, a maritime patrol aircraft, an airborne radar, or, when embarked and appropriately equipped, its SH-60B helicopter. F-101 carries Link 11 and Link 16 for exchanging tracks, while its Aegis combat system and AN/SPY-1D radar correlate the wider tactical picture. Those links improve awareness but do not eliminate the requirement to establish an engagement-quality solution: target identity, position, course, and speed must be current enough for the missile to reach a seeker-search basket containing the intended ship.

Block 1C also has limitations that matter in crowded waters. It does not have the two-way data link, in-flight target updates, abort function, or improved target-selection functions incorporated into the later Harpoon Block II+ configuration. Once launched, it follows its programmed route and selects a radar contact meeting the seeker’s criteria; it cannot receive a corrected track from F-101 if the target maneuvers outside the predicted search area. Its active radar seeker may also have difficulty discriminating between closely spaced ships, merchant traffic, and shoreline returns compared with weapons using imaging infrared seekers and onboard target-recognition software. These characteristics favor employment in open water, against a clearly separated target, or as part of a coordinated salvo that forces the defender to divide radar, jammer, and interceptor capacity.

The launch also has relevance to Spain’s replacement schedule. F-101 entered service on September 19, 2002, and the Harpoon installation belongs to the frigate’s original combat configuration. On December 15, 2023, Spain awarded Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace a €305 million contract through the NATO Support and Procurement Agency for Naval Strike Missiles. The F-110 frigates are scheduled to receive NSM first, followed by the F-100 class during mid-life modernization. Until that work is completed, Harpoon remains Spain’s ship-launched anti-surface weapon, so live firing is needed to verify canister condition, launch-control equipment, crew procedures, and missile-storage reliability after long service. The exercise does not demonstrate that Block 1C can penetrate a modern layered defense, but it does confirm that F-101 can complete the pre-launch and firing sequence within a U.S.-led multinational command structure.

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Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst.

Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.