On Friday, March 29, the Army Contracting Command (ACC) at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama signed a contract worth 483,478,740 USD (1.921 billion PLN) with Lockheed Martin for the production of AGM-114R2 Hellfire II anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) for Poland, France, and the Czech Republic.
Photo: US Army
The production will be carried out in Orlando, Florida, with the expected completion date being March 28, 2026. The order originates from funds allocated from the NDAA defense budget for fiscal years 2023 and 2024, general defense funds for ammunition purchases in fiscal years 2023 and 2024, US Army funds, and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program funds established in 2010 and 2011 for the Czech Republic, France, and Poland. Full funding was activated at the time of contract award.
The AGM-114R2 Hellfire II (also known as AGM-114R or Romeo Hellfire) anti-tank guided missiles are air-to-ground class weapons used to engage armored and unarmored targets. The missiles entered production in 2012, concurrently with the AH-64E Apache Guardian helicopters. The AGM-114R2 uses semi-active laser guidance and is equipped with a multi-purpose warhead for engaging various targets. The missile is 180 cm in length, weighs 49 kg, and travels at a speed of approximately Mach 1.3.
In the past several months, in addition to the three discussed countries, the following countries have decided to purchase: Australia (800 units), South Korea (288 units), the United Kingdom (395 units), the Kingdom of the Netherlands (386 units), and Slovakia (500 units, although this purchase remains uncertain), and even earlier, Italy.
Poland
On May 30, 2023, a contract worth approximately 150 million USD (633 million PLN) was signed at the Armament Agency with the United States Army Security Assistance Command (USASAC) for the delivery of 800 AGM-114R2 Hellfire II air-to-ground anti-tank guided missiles for AW149 support helicopters (of which 3 out of 32 ordered have already been delivered to the military).
Interestingly, according to the information published at that time, deliveries were supposed to start in 2023 and continue until 2029 (70% of the ordered missiles will be delivered no later than the end of the first half of 2026). Therefore, it can be assumed that the first of them come from the material resources of the US Army, and now the production of new ones for Poland will begin.
It is worth noting that those 800 Hellfires are not the end of it. Another 1844 missiles of this type, as well as up to 460 next-generation AGM-179A JAGM (Joint Air-to-Ground Missiles), will be delivered for arming the planned 96 AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopters.
The Hellfire missiles will also be compatible with the unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) of the MQ-9B SkyGuardian type planned for procurement by Poland, which belong to the MALE (Medium Altitude Long Endurance) class.
France
On July 7, 2023, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) published the approval of the U.S. Department of State for the potential sale to France of a batch of 1515 AGM-114R2 Hellfire II missiles, which would be used for arming the EC665 Tigre HAD (Hélicoptère d’Appui Destruction) army helicopters and MQ-9A Reaper Block 5 combat UAVs of the Air and Space Forces (Armée de l’air et de l’espace), for a maximum of 203 million USD.
Czech Republic
The Czechs ordered a small batch of 14 Hellfire missiles on December 12, 2019, along with 4 Bell AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters and 8 UH-1Y Venom multi-purpose helicopters. However, it is not known whether additional batches of ammunition will or will not be delivered along with subsequent helicopters of this type (6 AH-1Z and 2 UH-1Y), which will be donated by the USA in exchange for material assistance from Prague to Ukraine (announced on August 18, 2022). By March 23 of this year, half of the total of 20 H-1 helicopters had reached the Czech Republic: 4 AH-1Z and 6 UH-1Y.