Hellfire missile

Why in news?

During a recent Congressional hearing on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs), footage shows a US military Hellfire missile appearing to ‘bounce’ off an unidentified flying object (UFO)  off the coast of Yemen.

• The Hellfire missile is an air-to-ground (AGM) missile developed as a multipurpose missile capable of defeating a broad target set.
• Developed by – USA in 1974.
• Launch platform - It can be launched from multiple air, sea and ground platforms.
• Target - It has a multi-mission, multi-target precision-strike ability against tanks, structures, bunkers, and helicopters.
• Features -
  • Length - 5.33 ft
  • Diameter - 7 in
  • Wingspan - 28 in
  • Weight - 98 to 107 lbs
  • Range - 0.5-11 km
  • Speed - Subsonic speeds to a maximum of Mach 1.3 (450 m/s).
  • Platforms
    • Navy - SH-60B/HH-60H Seahawk
    • Army - AH-64 Apach
    • Marine - AH-1W Super Cobra
    • Air Force - MQ-1 Predator, Reaper
  • Warhead - Shaped charge and blast fragmentation
  • Propulsion – Single -stage Solid propellant rocket
• It uses a semi-active laser guidance system and millimeter-wave radar.
• The Lock-on before launch (LOBL) or lock-on after launch (LOAL) for increased platform survivability.
• Uses - It is used in the United States armed forces and many other countries in the world.
• It is capable of defeating any known tank in the world today.

Unidentified flying object (UFO) – UFO is defined as phenomena or observations of events in the air, sea, space, and land that cannot be identified as aircraft or as known natural phenomena.

UFOs are also known as unidentified aerial phenomena or unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP).

Reference

Hindustan Times | US Hellfire Missile