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NAVAIR DESIGNS and BUILDS A MORE POTENT HELLFIRE WARHEAD

NAVAIR Release

Press Release Number: ECL200307171

Release Date: 7/17/2003

Released by the NAVAIR China Lake Public Affairs Office--Marine assault units in Operation Iraqi Freedom are packing Hellfire missiles equipped with a new metal-augmented-charge (MAC) warhead designed, developed, and built at NAVAIR China Lake.

Hellfire is used by the Army, Navy, and Marines. The current Hellfire version-AGM-114 Hellfire II-has expanded its original anti-armor target set to include close-air support, urban assault, and antiship missions.

Unlike conventional warheads, which have a sharp pressure spike that decays rapidly, the MAC has a sustained pressure wave. That pressure propagates throughout a structure to extend the lethal effects of the warhead detonation.

In 2002, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) tasked NAVAIR to develop a new Hellfire warhead for urban operations. The number one requirement was to increase the probability of personnel lethality or incapacitation. DTRA assigned Air Force Lt. Colonel Tom Ward to head the development program.

The MAC technology used in the new warhead has its roots at China Lake in the 1960s. Scientists conducted basic research into fuel-air explosives (FAEs) that China Lake engineers subsequently developed into tactical weapons.

In the 1990s, Phil Dixon (currently head of the Energetics Materials and Ordnance Components Branch) worked with Henry John (now retired from China Lake) and others to develop non-liquid FAEs containing aluminum particles. These explosives demonstrated greater impulse (pressure over time) than non-augmented explosives. The work received a classified U.S. Patent and was the basis for the MAC warhead.

Inside the 27.5-pound warhead, a fluorinated aluminum powder is layered between the warhead casing and the PBXN-112 explosive fill. When the PBXN-112 detonates, the aluminum mixture is dispersed and rapidly burns. The resultant sustained high pressure is extremely effective against enemy personnel and structures.

"Thirteen months from funding to fielding," noted John Ayers, the project's systems engineer. "That was total design, development, assembly, explosive loading, integration into the missile armament section, and testing. Normally, that would be about a 3-year project." Ayers works in the Tactical Weapons Office, which has cognizance over WD's Hellfire work.

NAVAIR engineer Phil Gattis took over the program when it entered the qualification-testing phase. He received an urgent request from the Marine Corps to begin immediate fabrication of 65 warheads. Five of these were to be used for a Quick Reaction Assessment (QRA). The balance was destined for field use by Marine Corps operational units.

The warheads were built and integrated into the armament sections at China Lake. The sections were then shipped to Redstone Technical Test Center, AL., where Army personnel installed them in the missiles.

The QRA in January 2003 tested the MAC warheads against a bunker and cave on China Lake's Land Range and against a multi-room structure at White Sands Missile Range. China Lake tenant squadron VX-9 provided the helicopters and crews who did the shooting. All tests verified the performance of the MAC warhead.

"This is not the way we would normally plan a program," said Gattis. "We were very schedule driven. When you accelerate this fast, program elements that are normally worked in series have to be worked in parallel. Managing and mitigating risk is essential to the outcome. In this case, it worked. We had excellent team support everywhere we went-engineering prototype, ordnance processing, test and evaluation, getting flight clearances, working with our sponsors. The priority this was given was just amazing."

That hard work paid off in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Defense Week reported that Pentagon spokesman Lt. Commander Donald Sewell said, "The weapons were employed the first night of [the war] with great success."

Sewell also quoted the Marine Corps aviator who was the first to use the new Hellfire warhead in combat. '"That thing was awesome,' the Marine said. 'I thought it was a 2,000-pound JDAM going off.'"