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> It's not that simple. Some are designed to fly alongside the target and send a shrapnel ring blasting out Yes many air target missiles do just that but this
by wkat4242 1y ago
> It's not that simple. Some are designed to fly alongside the target and send a shrapnel ring blasting out
Yes many air target missiles do just that but this is a hellfire, normally used for ground targets. So there is no flying alongside its intended targets, it's just a big boom warhead.
Because it's meant for ground targets I could imagine the detonator needs something really firm to hit in order to detonate though. A drone might not suffice in all circumstances
- trenchpilgrim 1y agoHellfires have a selection of available warheads. The newest ones have multi-purpose warheads that have different selectable explosive patterns for different types of target. Even physically twisting the missile to get better hit probability on an air target: https://www.twz.com/usaf-testing-mutant-missiles-that-twist-in-mid-air-to-hit-their-targets https://www.twz.com/usaf-testing-mutant-missiles-that-twist-... This area of defense technology has been moving very quickly in the past few years, many assumptions the general public holds about military weapons and tactics are long obsolete.
- wkat4242 1y agoHmm cool but are these actually hanging under the wing of a drone or fighter yet? This all looks very experimental. Not daily bread & butter.
- trenchpilgrim 1y agoYes, JAGM/Hellfire II/SPEAR are flying. The US military has started deploying weapons much more quickly as of late.