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Longbow Hellfire production stop


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I doubt they have stopped Hellfire production. I'd guess they may have stopped production of the first production variant of the missile and newer versions of the missile have succeeded it on the production line. When you absolutely, positively have to stop the bad guy, the Hellfire is the way to go. An expensive but accurate bullet!

 

The Longbow has a millimetric wave radar. Not sure if it is used for missile guidance or not. Will have to check my references.

 

LD.

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31 minutes ago, Loach Driver said:

I doubt they have stopped Hellfire production. I'd guess they may have stopped production of the first production variant of the missile and newer versions of the missile have succeeded it on the production line. When you absolutely, positively have to stop the bad guy, the Hellfire is the way to go. An expensive but accurate bullet!

 

The Longbow has a millimetric wave radar. Not sure if it is used for missile guidance or not. Will have to check my references.

 

LD.

Yes, the MWR is used for missile guidance.  

 

Only a guess but the radar guided version really hasn't been used much (at all?) in the "Global War on Terror".   It was really designed to stop a cold-war style massive armor assault, while leaving the Apache outside of the engagement zone of most tactical air defense systems.   As such, maybe the Army still has sufficient inventories of this version and is now only purchasing the laser guided variants?

 

 

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16 hours ago, Loach Driver said:

 When you absolutely, positively have to stop the bad guy, the Hellfire is the way to go. An expensive but accurate bullet!

 

Only if you don't have Brimstone in your arsenal.

 

On a side note, have the US finally killed off the idea of equipping their AH's with Brimstone?

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I think the test program is just held up.  I don't think it's been killed off yet.

 

@Headhunter:  To my knowledge, nothing.  Which is why the birds in Afghanistan don't mount them, since it's dead weight.  After all, Taliban fighters have a much lower RCS than T-90s.

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The radar also has a terrain-mapping mode, which will display the terrain ahead on the MFD in different hues and allow high-speed terrain-hugging flight in just about any weather and/or at night. Could be pretty nifty in Afghanistan.

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2 hours ago, ChernayaAkula said:

The radar also has a terrain-mapping mode, which will display the terrain ahead on the MFD in different hues and allow high-speed terrain-hugging flight in just about any weather and/or at night. Could be pretty nifty in Afghanistan.

Except that most (all?) US Army Apaches had to have the radar removed before they deployed due to the weight issues encountered over there.  Never heard of the radar on the Apache allowing it to fly terrain following.  

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Info is from "Hellfire" by Ed Macy, who flew Brit Apaches in Afghanistan. Since the Brit Longbows have a bit more oomph thanks to their Rolls-Royce/Turbomeca engines, they usually fly with the radars installed.

I suppose it's not an automated "hands-off" terrain-following flight, but the different hues (black for terrain below you, white for stuff you'll run into and grey for stuff within a certain proximity of the chopper) make it much easier for the pilot.

 

He says the radar is also handy when acquiring targets outside of the TADS' field of view.

Edited by ChernayaAkula
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