{"id":172503,"date":"2025-08-09T07:00:30","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T11:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=172503"},"modified":"2025-08-08T20:03:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T00:03:10","slug":"hellfire-upgrade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=172503","title":{"rendered":"Hellfire upgrade"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When you are fielding a missile already capable of taking out ‘most any conventional armored target on the planet, what do you do next?<\/p>\n

Give it a very UNconventional warhead maybe?<\/p>\n

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”\u00a0 – 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?<\/p>\n

But one thing they do…is one thing.\u00a0 \u00a0Whatever that particular projectile is supposed to do, that’s what they do – just that and pretty much nothing else. For now.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

A \u201cFY2026 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,\u201d the Pentagon\u2019s latest budget proposal explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d the budget documents add. \u201cThis new variant will be integrated on both the AC-130 Gunship and the MQ-9 Platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n

How exactly the warhead is \u201carticulated,\u201d 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<\/em> has reached out to SOCOM for more information.<\/p>\n

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 \u2018sleeve\u2019 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.\u00a0The War Zone<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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<\/del> excitement.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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:<\/p>\n

\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s shopping list.\u00a0\u00a0The War Zone II<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Boy, you piss off just ONE President…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you are fielding a missile already capable of taking out ‘most any conventional armored target … Hellfire upgrade<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":668,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[213,187],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-172503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-your-tax-dollars-at-work","category-air-force"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/668"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=172503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172503\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=172503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=172503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=172503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}