The Skipper was intended as an anti-ship weapon, capable of disabling the largest vessels with a 1,000-lb (450-kg) impact-fuzed warhead.

The AGM-123 is composed out of a 1,000 lb (454 kg) Mark 83 low-drag general purpose bomb fitted with a Paveway guidance kit and one Aerojet Mk 78 solid-propellant rocket that fires upon launch.

The AGM-123 was developed at the China Lake Naval Weapons Center and was carried by the A-6E Intruder, A-7 Corsair II, and F/A-18.

Four Skipper missiles launched by A-6E Intruders contributed to sinking the Iranian frigate Sahand during Operation Praying Mantis on April 18, 1988.

[2] Skipper missiles were also fired in Operation Desert Storm against Iraqi surface vessels by A-6s and U.S. Marine aircraft.