The Army’s Joint Attack Munition Systems (JAMS) Project Office and Lockheed Martin [LMT] said the multipurpose AGM 114R Hellfire II Romeo missile has completed its proof-of-principle (POP) tests and now moves to system qualification.
“The AGM-114R baseline design is now defined and allows us to go into system qualification,” said Army Lt. Col. Mike Brown, Hellfire Systems product manager at JAMS. “The R model remains on cost and on schedule, and meets all performance objectives.”
Hellfire now will transition from component level qualification to full system level qualification. The Hellfire Romeo system qualification consists of a series of ground and airborne flights scheduled to begin in late summer that, upon successful completion, will allow the missile to begin the transition into production and fielding in the fall of 2012.
The baseline for the Romeo is Lockheed Martin’s new multi-purpose warhead and Electronic Safe and Arm Fuze, which results in enhanced launch trajectories due to the new three- axis inertial measurement unit that will allow the operator to prosecute targets beside and behind the aircraft without having to maneuver. The missile can be launched from high or low altitudes due to its enhanced guidance system and improved navigation capabilities, optimizing the missile’s impact angle for enhanced lethality.
The sixth and last POP test at Eglin AFB, Fla., used a live warhead and penetrated a brick-over-block target. Engineers ground-launched the single Hellfire II Romeo missile in a lock-on-after-launch mode, simulating firing the missile from a rotary-wing platform. The short-range–2.5 kilometer–high-speed impact shot penetrated the brick-over-block target and successfully detonated with the specified fuze delay.
The flight test demonstrated the Romeo’s enhanced software capability and performance in a military-operations-in-urban-terrain scenario. The new Romeo’s multipurpose warhead design enables the missile, with a designator spot laser, to seek and defeat hard, soft and enclosed targets with outstanding success.
This was the final POP test for this next-generation precision missile. The Romeo’s advanced fuze technology and new warhead design performed flawlessly in test flights, proving reduced risk through system performance.
Additionally, Lockheed Martin’s Joint-Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) incorporates the same warhead technology and fuze design that is present in the Hellfire II Romeo.
“We redesigned the warhead to combine the capabilities of our four previous Hellfire II variants into one single multipurpose missile,” said Ken Musculus, director of Air-to- Ground Missile Systems at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “Our POP tests conclusively proved that the Hellfire II Romeo meets all of its requirements, and will provide a valuable capability to the warfighter.”
The Hellfire II Romeo integrates with all Hellfire II-compatible platforms, and can be launched autonomously or with remote designation. Rotary-wing platforms include the Apache, Kiowa Warrior, Cobra and Seahawk, as well as the Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter for Australia and the Tiger Hélicoptere d’Appui Destruction (Support and Destruction) for France. The Hellfire also has been demonstrated on ground-based tripods, ground vehicles and boats.
With multi-mission and multi-target capability, Hellfire is the primary air-to-ground missile system for the U.S. Armed Forces and many allied nations. Lockheed Martin performs all work on behalf of the Hellfire Systems, LLC, at its manufacturing facilities in Troy, Ala., and Ocala, Fla.