Tiger Hellfire missile campaign complete

Australian Aerospace and ARDU have conducted the final live test firing of the Hellfire II missile from a Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) at Woomera. The firing, in early December, completed the Tiger/Hellfire integration and test program, demonstrating the full integration of Lockheed Martin Hellfire II missile system, including the M299 "smart launcher," onto the ARH version of the Tiger.

This program, under the responsibility of Australian Aerospace, was undertaken in 2 campaigns, in May and November 2005. The first demonstrated firing separation of a practise missile from the platform. The second campaign demonstrated performance and capability of the missile system by day and night, from 6 to 8 km, with self and remote designation and included live military loads. Seven missiles in total have been fired, each time hitting the defined targets as planned, and confirming the system accuracy. The various test flights have been shared between a Eurocopter test crew, on behalf of Australian Aerospace, and an Australian Army test crew.

"The success of the Hellfire missile program has been achieved through the excellent cooperation between the participants, the Defence Materiel Organisation and the Australian Army, Australian Aerospace, Eurocopter, Sagem as manufacturer of the sighting system and Lockheed Martin for the Hellfire missile and M299 launcher systems," said ARH project director Marc Jouan of Australian Aerospace.

"We are very pleased with the success of the Hellfire test program on the ARH Tiger," said Andy Marshall, international program manager for Air-to-Ground Missile Systems at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control in Orlando, FL. "The missile's 100 percent performance in 40 different scenarios clearly gives the Tiger a capability it has not had before and that no other weapon system can give it."