The Senate Appropriations Committee has voted to fund efforts to put Hellfire missiles on Air Force A-10 Warthog attack jets. The 100-pound Hellfire is normally a helicopter missile, but in recent years has been carried by Predator drones, too. A-10s have traditionally carried the 700-pound Maverick missile for killing tanks; integrating Hellfire will allow Warthogs to carry many more missiles to attack many more targets -- and the smaller missile's smaller warhead is actually better for missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, where targets are often close to civilians. All over the U.S. military, the trend is towards bigger loads of smaller munitions. The Air Force is adding the 250-pound satellite-guided Small Diameter Bomb to most of its bombers and fighters; the SDB saw its first combat use in Iraq in October.
--David Axe, cross-posted at War Is Boring
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