Developed in the late 1980s as an autonomous SEAD/DEAD weapon, the Harpy blends UAV and missile traits: released from a canister, it cruises to the target area and waits for hostile radars to switch on before diving on them.

It spawned the Harop family (2005), adding an EO/IR seeker and man-in-the-loop capability, widely used in Nagorno-Karabakh (2020) and Ukraine (2022).

The IAI Harpy was the first series-produced operational loitering munition in the world: its hybrid missile-drone philosophy shaped entire later generations of kamikaze weapons, from the US AeroVironment Switchblade to the Iranian Shaheds.

Harpy exports also triggered serious diplomatic frictions: in 2004 the United States temporarily blocked Israeli sales to China and Turkey over the transfer of sensitive technology, an episode that reshaped the US-Israel technology transfer rules.

In the 2010s IAI unveiled the Harpy NG (Next Generation) with doubled endurance and a multi-spectrum seeker, retaining its role as an autonomous SEAD/DEAD weapon to saturate enemy air defences.