Posted on 09/05/2010 7:50:51 PM PDT by shield
The U.S. Army is converting thousands of its older AGM-114K Hellfire missiles to the new AGM-114R standard. The AGM-114R completed its final testing late last year. Hellfires are the most frequently used American missiles these days. Recently, Hellfire added the ability to go after targets directly below, or behind, the aircraft firing it. This solves a particular problem with UAVs, because the vidcam on board can spot targets directly below, or even behind, the aircraft, while the Hellfire was designed to only go after targets in front of it. The new Hellfire mod accomplished all this with a multifunction guidance system. The new guidance system is also more accurate against moving targets. The AGM-114R (Hellfire II) missiles use either an armor-piercing or blast/fragmentation (for use against non-armored targets and bunkers) warhead. The ones fired from UAVs usually have the blast warhead. The Hellfire II weighs 106 pounds, carries a 9 kg (20 pound) warhead and has a range of 8,000 meters.
Hellfire II has several new features. For example, it has an electronics package (a circuit board and internal sensors) that monitors and reports the status of missile components. This Captive Carry Health Monitoring package constantly tracks the status of the missile, and the environment (heat, vibration and humidity). Maintenance personnel can jack into the missile and get a report at any time, making it easier to keep missiles fit for action. Older versions of the missile required this information to be logged manually, and much more effort to insure that the missile was ready for combat.
In addition to UAVs, the Hellfiree is most commonly used by the AH-64 helicopter gunship. An AH-64 can carry up to sixteen Hellfires at once. Predator, Reaper and Sky Warrior UAVs also use the Hellfire. The missile is popular for use in urban areas, because the small warhead (containing only about a kilogram/2.2 pounds of explosives) reduces civilian casualties. The missile is accurate enough to be sent through a window (OK, you have to be really good, and lucky, to do this) because of its laser guidance. The AGM-114R has also been tested fired from a ground mount (a simple tripod device).
>> The Hellfire II weighs 106 pounds, carries a 9 kg (20 pound) warhead and has a range of 8,000 meters.
5 miles. Impressive power for something that light.
When I drive through the Eglin AFB reservation, I always see a sign and arrow which says “Hellfire Test Range”.
For some reason that wording always seems amusing.
“Able to hit” is the key = The bridges in North Vietnam were aimed at thousands of times by very large but unaimed, unguided bombs. Terminal guidance was crude and very dangerous through the TV-screens and radios of the day.
An impact with light weight weapon will actually be effective. Sometimes. Sometimes it helps to pound hell out of the ground with crude weapons, since your target (areas of troop tents for example) costs less than the bomb and UAV you’re flying against it, and covers a wide and random area.
Is that a max range from altitude (AH-64 OR UAV) or ground level?
TIA,
TS
I would image a horizon type of vector that excludes the addition of gravity, but I really have no idea how they arrived at the spec.
I’m all for “force multipliers”, but I’m glad we still have B-52’s strikes that can basically take out a square mile at a time. “Dumb” bombs can be targeted fairly accurately these days. Once air cover and anti-aircraft missiles are neutralized, troops might as well put up an umbrella against something flying at 30,000 feet. Not every enemy is “first-line”.
I wonder if the recent hit on a Hezbollah munitions cache was done by a drone and missile?
The location apparently was under drone surveillance before and after the explosion.
“Image dropping 100 independently guided HellFire missiles at one time. “
Imagine 100 different vehicles (helicopters, Hummers, or man-portable remote targeting lasers) holding lasers on target.
That scenario doesn’t work for Hellfire. It was desiged as a tank killer primarily and its role was expanded over the years since we have had to fight wars against lightly armored or non-armored enemies. It works well on lightly hardened small buildings, bunkers, and command posts.
It’s a battlefield weapon, not a long stand-off range weapon. Very accurate, very fast, very hard to counter, and relatively inexpensive. They were used by a long-range Spec Ops flight of helicopters which opened up a radar-free corridor on the first night of the Gulf War I and the Iraqis didn’t even know what hit ‘em. The planes were taking out targets in Baghdad before the Iraqis even knew they were under attack.
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