Hellfire II Missile Test Flight Series on Tiger Helicopter Completed

Lockheed Martin announced the successful completion of a four-year program to integrate its precision-strike HELLFIRE® II missile system—including the M299 "smart launcher"—with its first international helicopter launch platform, Eurocopter’s Tiger armed reconnaissance helicopter (ARH) for Australia.

HELLFIRE scored seven target hits in seven shots in a test series that spanned more than six months, and demonstrated its capability in multiple flight/launch scenarios against different targets. Based on those successes, an eighth planned flight test was canceled by the customer.

The series of tests began in May 2005 under the auspices of Australian Aerospace and with the cooperation of Australia’s Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO), the Australian Army, Eurocopter and Sagem (manufacturer of the sight), and the U.S. Army. It was conducted in two phases at Woomera, South Australia, using multiple launch scenarios and various targets to test approaches, ranges, altitudes and speeds, during daylight and nighttime conditions.

Read more