Hellfire upgrade
When you are fielding a missile already capable of taking out ‘most any conventional armored target on the planet, what do you do next?
Give it a very UNconventional warhead maybe?
Typically anti-armor stuff either makes a big bang, a focused bang, or has a specialized projectile that can do something spiffy like ‘blow through armor as it liquifies so everything inside gets hit with superheated spatter” – I think that covers the lot. Exotics like superhardened tungsten, inert uranium, unobtanium warheads from Loudenboomin guns – they all pretty much do one of those things, right?
But one thing they do…is one thing. Whatever that particular projectile is supposed to do, that’s what they do – just that and pretty much nothing else. For now.
A new variant of the AGM-114 Hellfire missile with a warhead that can be set to focus its blast in different directions depending on the target is in the works for the U.S. special operations community. U.S. Air Force special operations MQ-9 Reaper drones and AC-130J Ghostrider gunships are set to be the launch platforms, at least initially, for the Selectable Precision Effects Articulated (SPEAR) version of the Hellfire.
A “FY2026 increase [in requested funding for SOPGM] is due to an overall increase in the cost to provide Hellfire with a Selectable Precision Effects Articulated (SPEAR) warhead,” the Pentagon’s latest budget proposal explains.
“The SPEAR warhead is a dual-mode warhead (Forward/ Radial) that allows the user to select different firing modes (Radial or forward blast) depending on the targets,” the budget documents add. “This new variant will be integrated on both the AC-130 Gunship and the MQ-9 Platforms.”
How exactly the warhead is “articulated,” including whether or not it physically moves inside the missile body when switching between the forward and radial modes, is unclear. No further details about the kinds of effects the warhead is designed to produce in either mode (blast-fragmentation, overpressure, etc) are provided. TWZ has reached out to SOCOM for more information.
The standard warhead for the AGM-114R Hellfire, the predominant version in U.S. service today, consists of a shaped charge surrounded by a fragmentation ‘sleeve’ that sends out a cloud of deadly shrapnel upon detonation. This is billed as a multi-purpose warhead suitable for use against a wide variety of targets, including armored and unarmored vehicles, small boats, structures, and personnel in the open. However, the shaped charge component is fixed in a forward-facing position, while the design of the sleeve would give the fragmentation effect a radial pattern. The War Zone
Not exactly “pick an end result from these ten options” but even having a choice is pretty amazing. Potentially this reduces the weapons load-out while increasing the possibilities, right? Not o mention giving some of us some serious wood excitement.
And… if you are gonna have such a thing you need targets, right? The Air Force is looking for a few vehicles – two of them very specific:
The U.S. Air Force is looking to buy two Tesla Cybertrucks for use as targets for precision munitions during testing and training. The service says it needs these vehicles for this purpose specifically because of the prospect of unspecified adversaries driving around in them in the future.
The Cybertrucks are among 33 target vehicles the Air Force Test Center (AFTC) is looking to acquire and have delivered to the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in New Mexico, according to contracting documents recently posted online. WSMR is run by the U.S. Army, but the Air Force has a significant presence there. There are no name-brand requirements for the other sedans, bongo trucks, pickups, and SUVs, that are also on AFTC’s shopping list. The War Zone II
Boy, you piss off just ONE President…
Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Air Force
Dial-a-boom
What’s next, the hush-a-boom?
How about “Hushabye” by the NYC Mystics 1959 on the
Laurie record label.
https://youtu.be/94VWNiOcss0
Thanks for the memories Beans. Heard all those songs on Allen Freed when radio stations played music in NYC…Was 14 when the song came out..
I have gathered all the ingredients for that except the pinch of salt.
I’ve gathered all the ingredients for that except the pinch of salt.
Dear whomever acquires vehicles for bomb tests
Save us all some money, and buy them at insurance auctions. It’s not like they will be repairable after the first bombing/straffing run anyway.
I lived next to a community college that had a bunch of Hurricane Katrina-damaged new cars ready to “go under the knife” for the auto repair program. A couple of them didn’t look to bad, the water line was right about floorboard level.
In a lot of new cars computers are placed under the carpets. Floorboard level means a total.
A cyber truck is level IIIa resistant in the doors and body panels. It’s not rated for Hellfire Warheads.
I find this amusing because in TV and movies car doors stop bullets. In RL not so much. Now we have a truck that stops bullets but has a reputation for not surviving a trip through a car wash
What about the supposed “military grade” aluminum Ford uses on their F150, possibly F250/350? Indestructible unless Pvt. Snuffy gets ahold of one.
I used to think a Soldier could break anything. I had a PV2 break a sledge hammer. The head, not the handle. And then I went to work for CBP. Ho Lee Chit.
Breaking a steel anvil with a glass hammer. “Hey boss, you ain’t gonna believe this shit, but….”.
I once had a Joe that you could leave alone in a room with nothing but a 12″ diameter steel ball and by the time you came back, said ball would be missing, broken or pregnant!
I seem to have a bit of talent in that area. Once upon a time at Ft. Benning the SF had a little display of weapons and equipment. I asked the nice Sergeant if I could fondle the FAL and he, being a young and inexperienced E5, said “Sure!”. I thereupon proceeded, with his guidance, to disassemble the rifle. As I reassembled the rifle somehow I jammed the front pivot pin and the upper and lower receivers were stuck open. I fiddled with it, and the Sergeant fiddled with it, but no luck. As I casually walked away the Sgt. was scowling and muttering naughty things as he struggled to fix it.
I also once jammed the operating rod on an M-14 so that the rifle would not operate. I think the armorer eventually fixed it, but I don’t remember. Then there was the time…..
Testing the Ninja Cutter Hellfire.
Longest lasting fridge I ever had was a Kenmore. No wonder they don’t make them anymore.
There is a brand but since 2000 it has been outsourced. I had a pre 2000 gas stove that lasted 45 years.
Just replaced our top-of-the-line Kitchenaid electric cooktop we bought in 1993. Dealer said the new one would probably only last about 8 years.
That will be $1000 . Would you like it delivered and installed? Can I interest you in an extended warranty?
And since the new model has slightly different dimensions (larger, of course), you will need a custom installation for a small additional fee.
I live near a gravel pit that has dozens of Amana
washing machines as target holders.
I own one myself that will end up there as soon as I can
find an old fashion washing machine with the attached
wringer on a swivel.
Why the hell does a washing machine need WiFi and an
internet connection? I want one I fill with a bucket or even
a garden hose without the world watching me wash my
shorts and trying to sell me shit.
My aunt got her hand caught in the wringer once.
Ouch!
As a kid I used to put cardboard boxes and
other stuff through it.
This is how we learn.
I believe the term for that “wringer” is, appropriately enough, a “mangle”.
” “Mangle” is a word with multiple meanings, most commonly referring to the verb to damage or disfigure severely by hacking, crushing, or tearing, or the noun for a laundry machine that presses clothes between rollers.”
“old fashion washing machine with the attached wringer on a swivel”
We had one of those old Maytag tub washers from the time I was born (1957) until my mom was moved out of her house (due to Alzheimer’s) in 1993.
I’ve a Sears gas stove. Not Kenmore, Sears badged. It was installed when the house was new in ’67. I’ve lived here for 26 years.
Still makin’ bacon.
That’s pretty cool how the missle breaks the car window
just before impact. High tech.
NO, you may NOT have my 2000 Toyota 4Runner for your target practice. I’m still driving it (at 260K+ miles)
I’m lamenting the loss of my truck. Found out earlier this year that my ’06 Sierra was scrapped. Long story, but I had it in VA with the intention of getting it eventually. It’d been there since I retired in 2022, but the property was owned outright by my sister’s fiancé. Well, she turned herself in back in late 2023 for some trouble she’d gotten into in TX, spending a year as a guest in their system, and go figure, her fiancé passed away only a week before she was released. She wasn’t allowed to move back and has been staying down South with me since late last year. Since she has a son with the guy and lived at the property, though, nothing was supposed to be done with the property without proper arrangements, and it was agreed that my truck was safe to keep there. Nope, after months of the fiancé’s adult son lying to her, she found out he’d tried to short sell the house and scrapped or sold most of the trucks and equipment, including mine.
RIP, Sierra. At nearly 320k miles, you were on the list for a donor drivetrain at some point, but you were still going strong. Traded my ’99 Sentra in on the way back from BNCOC in ’07, and had that truck through good times and bad, watching the odometer climb while drinking countless beers in the cab (bad me, I know) and having my old dog Pepper (now Ghost Pepper) riding shotgun.
I figure as much as I drove that truck, I’ll buy one new (or newish) truck by the time I’m 50 and have that last the rest of my time here.
My ’78 F100 is gonna roll over 100k one of these days…
I forget how many miles were on my ’78 F-250. My brother-in-law gave it to me just before I got my Sierra, because I needed a truck. I never took the time or energy to get it straight as a daily driver, so it made some trips to the dump but mostly sat at my in-law’s house before I got rid of it.
I’d love to have that, my ’78 K5 Blazer, or ’60 Willys DJ3 back.
And yet my kid’s unit can’t get printer cartridges or HMMWV parts to carry out their mission.