LOCKHEED MARTIN LAUNCHES HELLFIRE II AT DUBAI
By Julian Nettlefold
16 Nov 09. Doug Terrell of Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control gave an in-depth briefing to journalist during the Dubai Air Show about the development of the Hellfire II Missile system and developments of the DAGR missile system, developed under PV money by Lockheed Martin
HELLFIRE II Missile
The precision-strike semiactive laser (SAL)-guided HELLFIRE II missile system defeats advanced armor and urban point targets in the presence of severe electro-optical countermeasures, with minimal collateral damage. It can be launched from multiple air, sea, and ground platforms, autonomously or with remote designation. HELLFIRE II is a highly successful, combat-proven weapon system for precision kill of high-value armor, air defense, ships, waterborne, and fixed targets. The missile may be employed by lock-on before or lock-on after launch for increased platform survivability.
Four variants of the SAL HELLFIRE II are (1) the high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) missile, or AGM-114K, which defeats all known and projected armoured threats; (2) the AGM-114M blast fragmentation missile, which is effective against primary target sets such as boats, buildings, bunkers and light-armoured vehicles; (3) the metal augmented charge missile, or AGM-114N, which defeats enclosures, caves and enemy personnel housed therein; and (4) the recently introduced augmented HEAT warhead, AGM-114K-A, which adds blast fragmentation to the HEAT warhead’s anti-tank capability, providing precision strike against soft targets in the open.
The four variants can all be carried on and fired from the all-digital M299 launcher, giving HELLFIRE II the capability to engage multiple targets simultaneously. The Longbow HELLFIRE missile (AGM-114L) has a millimeter-wave (MMW) sensor and a HEAT warhead, providing fire-and-forget and adverse weather capability against armored targets.
Hellfire II was shown in various modes, Pandur vehicle mounted, tripod-based system in the costal defence role and sea-launched, supported by the FLIR Systems Inc. Brighteye EO/IR system.
Tyrell said that the next version of Hellfire will be fitted with an IMU not an auto-pilot. Sources suggest that Lockheed Martin is looking to AIS of the UK as a new source of IMUs in preference to Honeywell, the existing supplier.
DAGR
DAGR is a semi-active laser guidance kit that adapts to 2.75-inch/70mm rockets to provide guided-rocket performance comparable to that of the precision-strike laser-guided HELLFIRE II® missile. DAGR is being developed by Lockheed Martin as a non-developmental item to fill the gap between unguided rockets and the HELLFIRE weapon system by providing a precision-strike, air-to-ground weapon for non-armored or lightly-armored high-value targets close to civilian assets or friendly forces, while limiting collateral damage.
DAGR integrates proven seeker, guidance, electronics, integrated flight simulation, and countermeasures technologies developed on HELLFIRE and Joint Common Missile (JCM) to provide a highly lethal and precise 2.75-inch/70mm weapon. Our baseline DAGR guidance kit offers 2.75-inch/70mm rockets lock-on-after-launch and lock-on-before-launch capability, target handoff, enhanced built-in test, and laser coding from the cockpit. Its off-axis capability increases the engagement envelope, providing additional field of view for angle-of-attack, moving targets, and wind.
Accompanied by Lockheed Martin’s 4-pack launcher, the DAGR system allows quick and easy integration on all HELLFIRE platforms including Cobra, Apache, Seahawk, Kiowa and Tiger helicopters. Fully compatible with the M299 and M310 “smart” launchers, DAGR increases launcher load out by up to four times and provides single-switch operational flexibility, drawing upon a payload that includes DAGR as well as multiple variants of HELLFIRE for multi-mission capability.