File under ‘No Suprise’ : Navy Shore Based Harpoon System Successful

It shouldn’t be that much of a surprise, as Harpoon entered service in 1977– yes, almost 50 years ago– but the new Harpoon Coastal Defense System (HCDS) was validated at its Developmental Test (DT-1) at Point Mugu Sea Range (PMSR) in July 2026, “validating the system’s ability to engage and neutralize maritime threats.” Boeing Photo via DVIDS 260721-O-HP119-5272 During the event, the Harpoon missile successfully launched from land and engaged the target vessel in near-shore/littoral waters. It is planned to ship these to Taiwan, which has a $2.3B program to field 100 HCDS launchers and 400 missiles– a pretty good way to keep the local littoral their local littoral. It should also be noted that the background concept has been extensively validated over the years, with the Royal Danish Navy fielding two 8-missile batteries of Scania 113M/320 truck-mounted quad-packed Harpoons from 1988 to 2003. The Danish Harpoon setup. Marinens Biblioteks digitale arkiv MAB-16884 Plus, Ukraine received…