AGM-114 Hellfire

Most variants are laser-guided, with one variant, the AGM-114L "Longbow Hellfire", being radar-guided. Laser guidance can be provided either from the launcher, such as the nose-mounted opto-electronics of the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, other airborne target designators or from ground-based observers, The development of the Hellfire Missile System began in 1974 with the United States Army requirement for a "tank-buster", launched from helicopters to defeat armored fighting vehicles. The Hellfire II, developed in the early 1990s is a modular missile system with several variants, and entered service with the U.S. Army in 1996. Hellfire II's semi-active laser variants—AGM-114K high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT), AGM-114KII with external blast fragmentation sleeve, AGM-114M (blast fragmentation), and AGM-114N metal augmented charge (MAC)—achieve pinpoint accuracy by homing in on a reflected laser beam aimed at the target. The General Atomics MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) carry the Hellfire II, but the most common platform is the helicopter gunship, such as the AH-64 Apache or AH-1 Cobra, which can carry up to 16 of them each. The AGM-114L, or Longbow Hellfire, is a fire-and-forget weapon: equipped with millimeter-wave (MMW) active radar homing, it requires no further guidance after launch—even being able to lock on to its target after launch—and can hit its target without the launcher or other friendly unit being in line of sight of the target. It also works in adverse weather and battlefield obscurants, such as smoke and fog, which can mask the position of a target or prevent a designating laser from forming a detectable reflection. Each Hellfire weighs , including the warhead, and has a range of depending on trajectory. The Hellfire has a Circular Error Probable (CEP) of less than . The AGM-114R "Romeo" Hellfire II entered service in late 2012. It uses a semi-active laser homing guidance system and a K-charge multipurpose warhead to engage targets that formerly needed multiple Hellfire variants. It will replace AGM-114K, M, N, and P variants in U.S. service. In October 2012, the U.S. ordered 24,000 Hellfire II missiles, for both the U.S. armed forces and foreign customers. A possible new JCM successor called the Joint Air to Ground Missile (JAGM) is under consideration. Due to budget reductions, JAGM development was separated into increments, with increment 1 focusing on adding a millimeter-wave radar to the Hellfire-R to give it a dual-mode seeker, enabling it to track moving targets in bad weather. ==Operational history==

main battle tank destroyed by friendly fire in 1991 Gulf War; one Abrams is thought to have been accidentally set on fire by a Hellfire missile fired from an Apache helicopter. In 2009, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) acknowledged that Army Air Corps (AAC) AgustaWestland Apaches had used AGM-114N Hellfire missiles against Taliban forces in Afghanistan. The MoD stated that 20 missiles were used in 2008 and a further 20 in 2009. In the British Parliament, Liberal Democrat politician Nick Harvey argued that the "Parliament must be reassured these are a weapon of last resort." AGM-114 Hellfire missiles were used to kill Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) in 2004, and by the US military to kill American-born Islamic cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen in 2011, Al-Qaeda operative Abu Yahya al-Libi in Pakistan in 2012, al-Shabaab militant Mukhtar Abu Zubair in Somalia in 2014, and British ISIL executioner Mohammed Emwazi (also known as "Jihadi John") in Syria in 2015. They were also used in the assassination of Qasem Soleimani as well as the killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The AGM-114 has occasionally been used as an air-to-air missile. The first operational air-to-air kill with a Hellfire took place on 24 May 2001, after a civilian Cessna 152 aircraft entered Israeli airspace from Lebanon, with unknown intentions and refusing to answer or comply with ATC repeated warnings to turn back. An Israeli Air Force AH-64A Apache helicopter fired on the Cessna, resulting in its complete disintegration. In January 2016 The Wall Street Journal reported that one training missile without a warhead was accidentally shipped to Cuba in 2014 after a training mission in Europe; it was later returned. A US official said that this was an inert "dummy" version of the Lockheed system stripped of its warhead, fuse, guidance equipment and motor, known as a "Captive Air Training Missile". During the Russo-Ukrainian War, Ukraine used a V2X Tempest vehicle equipped with a Hellfire missile launcher to conduct counter-uncrewed aerial systems missions. AGM-114 Hellfire missiles were used by the US in combat in the 2026 Iran war. ==Variants==

; AGM-114A :* Produced: 1982–1992 :* Target: Armored vehicles :* Range: :* Guidance: :** Semi-active laser homing (SALH) :** Non-programmable :** Analog autopilot :* Warhead: shaped charge HEAT. Unable to penetrate reactive armor. :* Length: :* Weight: ; AGM-114B/C: :* Produced: 1982–1992 :* Target: Armored vehicles, ship-borne targets :* Range: :* Guidance: :** Semi-active laser homing (SALH) :** Non-programmable :** Analog autopilot :* Warhead: shaped charge HEAT. Unable to penetrate reactive armor.–1994 :* Target: Armored vehicles :* Range: :* Guidance: :** Semi-active laser homing (SALH) :** Non-programmable :** Analog autopilot :* Warhead: shaped charge HEAT. Tandem-charge, can penetrate reactive armor. :* Target: All armored targets :* Range: :* Guidance: :** Semi-active laser homing with electro-optical countermeasures hardening :** Digital autopilot & electronics improvements allow target reacquisition after lost laser lock :* Warhead: tandem shaped charge HEAT :* Length: :* Weight: :* K-2 adds insensitive munitions (IM) :* K-2A adds blast-fragmentation sleeve ; AGM-114L Hellfire Longbow: :* Produced: 1995–2005, 2016– ; AGM-114M Hellfire II (Blast Frag): :* Produced: 1998–2010 :* Target: Bunkers, light vehicles, urban (soft) targets and caves :* Range: :* Guidance: :** Semi-active laser homing :** Delayed and programmable fuzing in for hardened targets :* Warhead: Blast fragmentation/incendiary :* Weight: :* Length: ; AGM-114N Hellfire (MAC) in front, copper cone shaped charge explosive in middle, propulsion in the rear :* Produced: 2003–2018 :* Produced: since 2012 :* Target: All targets :* Range: ; M36 Captive Flight Training Missile: The M36 is an inert device used for training in the handling of the Hellfire. It includes an operational laser seeker. ; AGM-114R-9X : The Hellfire R-9X is a Hellfire variant with a kinetic warhead with pop-out blades instead of explosives, used against specific human targets. Its lethality is due to of dense material with six blades flying at high speed, to crush and cut the targeted person and "Flying Ginsu". It is intended to reduce collateral damage when targeting specific people. Deployed in secret in 2017, its existence has been public since 2019. This variant was used in the killing in 2017 of Abu Khayr al-Masri, a member of Al-Qaeda's leadership, and in 2019 of Jamal Ahmad Mohammad Al Badawi, accused mastermind of the 2000 USS Cole bombing. The weapon has also been used in Syria, and in Afghanistan against a Taliban commander. It was used twice in 2020 against senior al-Qaeda leaders in Syria; in September 2020 US officials estimated that it had been used in combat six times. : Hellfire missiles fired by a Reaper drone were used on 31 July 2022 to kill Ayman al-Zawahiri, : Images of the aftermath of a US attack on a member of Kata'ib Hezbollah (claimed to be Abu Baqir al-Saadi by Hezbollah-affiliated reports) suggest an R-9X was used. In December 2024 an R-9X appears to have been used near Idlib. :In late February 2025 the US government made video of an R-9X in action public for the first time; the missile was used by CENTCOM to kill the senior commander of Al-Qaeda affiliate Hurras al-Din in Northwest Syria. ==Launch vehicles and systems==

Manned helicopters AH-1W Super Cobra • AH-64 Apache • AH-6 • MH-6 Little Bird • AH-1Z Viper • Bell OH-58 Kiowa • Tiger ARH • MH-60R • MH-60S Fixed-wing aircraft AC-208 Caravan launches a Hellfire missile • Beechcraft Super King Air • Cessna AC-208 Combat Caravan • KC-130J Harvest HAWK • IOMAX Archangel • AC-130W • MQ-1 Predator • MQ-1C Gray Eagle • MQ-9 Reaper Vessels • Super Dvora Mk III-class patrol boat, Israel • Freedom-class littoral combat ship • Independence-class littoral combat ship Ground vehicles • V2X Tempest The US Navy evaluated the missile for use on the Freedom-class littoral combat ship and Independence-class littoral combat ship from 2014. The missile was successfully fired from a LCS in early 2017. This system was set to deploy by late 2019. In 2016 the Longbow Hellfire was tested by the US Army using a 15-tube Multi-Mission Launcher mounted on a Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) truck. The MML is an Army-developed weapon system capable of deploying both surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles. The Longbow Hellfire initially equipped the Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense (M-SHORAD) version of the Stryker to serve as a surface-to-air counter-drone missile, ==Operators==

The following countries use the Hellfire: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • , Robot 17 • • • • , Robot 17 • • • ==See also==