The AGM-114 - An American Classic Tank Killer

The Hellfire missile is the main armament of the American AH-64 Apache attack helicopter. The apache is not the only war machine to utilize the Hellfire, and the history of the Hellfire’s development attests to the business acumen of the US defence industry. After WWII, the DOD began to research with employing laser technology for military applications. Once laser technology and missile design had been perfected, large defense contractors incorporated textbook marketing principles such as modular design to increase versatility and ease of manufacturing. For example, the warhead of the missile comes in different varieties; a blast fragmentation warhead for defeating bunkers and a dual shape charge warhead that can defeat advanced reactive armor. The shape charge is clearly visible in the missile cross-section(it is the copper cone shaped piece). Likewise, the Hellfire was designed to be modifiable so that it could be employed with an array of military vehicles.



The newest platform to fire the Hellfire is the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) MQ-1B Predator, which signals a new era of robotic military machines. New developments for Hellfire missile platforms are constantly arriving, other visions include Hellfire armed small warships and Hellfire armed small land vehicles.

PAC-3 land-to-air missile interceptors

The most important feature of this new Patriot system, however, will be a completely new missile, a variant of the Lockheed Martin ERINT (Extended Range Interceptor) commonly called PAC-3 (which is a bit confusing because the earlier PAC-3 configuration systems don't use this missile). The PAC-3 missile is highly optimized for the anti-missile role (employing a hit-to-kill capability enhanced by a fragmentation warhead), so that operational PAC-3 Patriot units will be equipped eventually with both MIM-104 and PAC-3 missiles. The latter is significantly smaller than an MIM-104, so that 16 missiles instead of four can be carried in a single launch station. ERINT was first flight-tested in 1992, and selected as the ultimate PAC-3 missile in 1994. The PAC-3/ERINT integration tests took place from 1995 to 1997, and the missile is currently in LRIP (Low Rate Initial Production) status. The PAC-3 missile was also selected as the missile component of the joint US/European MEADS (Medium Extended Air Defense System).

Japan Ground Self-Defense Force personnel stands near PAC-3, land-to-air missile, set up at a base amid the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's planned rocket launch in Akita, northern Japan, Tuesday, March 31, 2009. Batteries of PAC-3 land-to-air missile interceptors have been sent to two northern prefectures that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's rocket is expected to fly over.