IAI Harpy

Israel's ground-launched anti-radiation loitering munition — a fire-and-forget SEAD weapon that autonomously hunts emitting radars and dives to kill them, and the genealogical root of the combat-proven Harop family.

Overview

The IAI Harpy is an autonomous loitering munition developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) for the suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD). It cruises over a target area passively listening for radar emissions, then dives on any emitter with a 32 kg warhead. Shipped in containerised ground launchers, it requires no data-link or pilot-in-the-loop and emits no active signal, making it difficult for targeted radars to detect. Exported to India, South Korea and China, its direct descendant — the Harop — reshaped drone warfare in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflicts and in the India-Pakistan theater. A June 2026 manufacturing partnership with Palladyne AI opens the family to the U.S. market.

Development

The Harpy traces its design to the South African Kentron ARD-10 drone, acquired by IAI in the late 1980s. A first flight occurred in 1989 and the system entered Israeli Defense Forces service in the early 1990s, according to Wikipedia. India and South Korea became the first export customers shortly afterward. In 1994, China purchased Harpy systems for approximately US$55 million. When those units were returned to Israel for a contracted upgrade in 2004, U.S. pressure forced Israel to hand them back without any modifications in 2005, triggering a temporary suspension of Israel from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. The episode demonstrated the political sensitivity of the technology and spurred IAI to develop the more capable Harop, which adds an electro-optical/infrared seeker and a human-in-the-loop data-link. On June 8, 2026, IAI signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with Palladyne AI, granting the company exclusive U.S. manufacturing and marketing rights for the Harpy, Harop, and Mini Harpy, as reported by BusinessWire. No U.S. government procurement contract has yet materialized.

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