Archive image of an SH-60B helicopter firing an Penquin anti-ship missile.
A Navy helicopter that was armed with sophisticated Penguin anti-ship missiles from the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station was fired upon by pirates off Somali on Wednesday night, the Navy says. But the pirates missed the helicopter, a SH-60B that took off from the cruiser USS Chancellorsville, a San Diego-based cruiser that also gets other ordnance from Seal Beach.
The Navy Times reports on its website that, “The helicopter was about 3,000 yards away from the ship when the pirates opened fire with ‘a large caliber weapon,’ the Navy said in a statement. The helicopter did not return fire.”
The Chancellorsville was shadowing the Win Far, which the Navy Times described as a Taiwanese-flagged fishing vessel whose crew of 30 have been held by pirates sine April.
If the helicopter had returned fire, the Win Far could have been badly damaged. Although Penguin missiles came into service in the 1970s, they’re considered to be very advanced naval short-to-medium range cruise missiles.
“The missile flies an indirect flight path to target, and is operated in the “fire-and-forget” mode to allow multiple target prosecutions,” the Navy says.
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