“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.