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Lockheed Martin/Boeing joint venture Hellfire Systems in Orlando, FL has received a $356-million contract for Hellfire II High-Energy Anti-Tank missiles (HEATs). Work will be performed in Orlando, FL and is expected to be complete by October 2011.

The AGM-114K Hellfire II missile is equipped with a shaped-charge warhead that can destroy armored vehicles or punch though buildings. The recently introduced AGM-114K-A variant adds blast fragmentation to the HEAT warhead's anti-tank capability, giving it added versatility against unarmored targets in the open.

Hellfire missiles are the USA's preferred aerial anti-armor missile, equipping its helicopter fleets (AH-64, AH-1, OH-58D, MH-60S/R), AH-64 ad S-70 helicopters flown by its allies, as well as Australian and French Eurocopter Tiger attack helicopters. While they lack the fast-jet launch capabilities of the UK's MBDA Brimstone missile, the Hellfire has carved out a unique niche of its own as the guided missile integrated into America's armed UAVs like the Predator.