ALARM is a British air-launched anti-radiation missile built for suppression of enemy air defenses, using pre-planned navigation, passive radar-emission sensing, and direct or parachute-loiter attack modes. RAF Tornados fired it in the 1990 Gulf War, Kosovo, and the 2003 Iraq War, while the Yemen record identifies later Royal Saudi Air Force use as a UK-supplied munition without proving a specific radar-kill engagement.
Imperial War Museums and RAF air-power writing document ALARM entering service in the 1991 Gulf War, with RAF Tornado GR1 aircraft firing roughly 120-121 missiles during the campaign, mostly in corridor-suppression profiles against Iraqi air-defense threats.
Role detailsCSIS Kosovo air-campaign data and RAF air-power analysis identify a small number of ALARM missiles fired by the RAF during Operation Allied Force, reflecting limited British anti-radiation missile employment within NATO's wider SEAD campaign.
RAF Air Power Review's Operation Telic study says the Ali Al Salem Combat Air Wing's March-April 2003 tasking included suppression of enemy air defenses using the ALARM anti-radiation munition.
Role detailsUK parliamentary answers and defense reporting identify ALARM among UK-supplied munitions used by the Royal Saudi Air Force in Yemen after March 2015; later reporting says Saudi use during the intervention was not specifically as an anti-radar shot, so target details are treated cautiously.
Role detailsALARM was designed around pre-planned SEAD rather than a dedicated emitter-location aircraft. RAF writing describes target data being loaded before launch, with Tornado GR4 crew able to update parameters before firing.
Missiles were programmed around a corridor through suspected surface-to-air missile defenses, then searched for threat radars along and beside that route.
In Target of Known Location mode, ALARM climbed and searched for the target radar during descent; if no emissions were received, it fell toward the programmed coordinates.
The missile could deploy a parachute over a target area, descend while listening for emissions, then cut the parachute and home when a radar came back on.
ALARM was fielded as an air-launched missile for strike aircraft that could load and release it on SEAD missions.
| Carrier | Carrier type | Carriage evidence |
|---|---|---|
 | Strike aircraft | Royal Air Force documentation identifies the Tornado GR4 as the primary launch platform for ALARM, and museum material shows Tornado carriage as part of the weapon's standard employment. Sources: Suppression of Enemy Air Defences |
RAF air-power writing traces ALARM to AST 1228, a 1977 requirement for a defence-suppression weapon that could support Tornado strike operations without a specialist emitter-location aircraft.
Hansard recorded the July 1983 decision to proceed with British Aerospace Dynamics Group's ALARM proposal, with Marconi Space and Defence Systems named as a major seeker-head subcontractor.
Imperial War Museums and RAF air-power sources describe ALARM entering service during the 1991 Gulf War, when RAF Tornado GR1 aircraft fired more than 120 missiles.
RAF Museum material records ALARM's withdrawal from RAF service in 2013, after which public reporting still identified Saudi Arabia as an operator.
