🔄 AGM-114 Hellfire Missile to Gain Articulated Warhead for Directional Blasts

📬 In Today’s Defense Brief

🔄 AGM-114 Hellfire Missile to Gain Articulated Warhead for Directional Blasts LINK

⚡ Army’s Hypervelocity Projectile Plan Ready, Funding Decision Pending LINK

🛰️ Army Drafts New Space Policy Focused on Counter-Space Operations LINK

📡 Space Force and Intel Community Launch Ground-Moving-Target-Indicator Effort LINK

🛡️ Army Plans 30 Percent Expansion of Air-Defense Force LINK

🎱 Plus 6 other news stories you may like

📰 Full Breakdown

🔄 AGM-114 Hellfire Missile to Gain Articulated Warhead for Directional Blasts LINK

• A forthcoming SPEAR upgrade will allow Hellfire missiles to detonate forward or outward, letting crews tailor blast effects to target type and surroundings.

• U.S. Special Operations Command funded initial testing; documentation shows evaluations aboard MQ-9 Reapers and AC-130J gunships.

• Budget exhibits indicate continued funding through FY-26 under the Stand-Off Precision Guided Munitions program.

⚡ Army’s Hypervelocity Projectile Plan Ready, Funding Decision Pending LINK

• Service officials say engineering work is finished on a low-cost hypervelocity round designed for existing 155 mm and naval guns.

• The projectile would give artillery units a new option for air and missile defense at far lower cost than interceptors.

• Production cannot begin until Congress approves new-start funding in the upcoming defense budget cycle.

🛰️ Army Drafts New Space Policy Focused on Counter-Space Operations LINK

• A rewrite of Army Regulation 900-1 will spell out doctrine for space support, acquisitions, training, and emerging counter-space roles.

• The revision, led by the service’s Space and Missile Defense Command, updates guidance not touched since 2011.

• Planners also highlighted a Theater Strike Effects Group that will stand up under INDOPACOM by 2027.

📡 Space Force and Intel Community Launch Ground-Moving-Target-Indicator Effort LINK

• A new joint program will place radar satellites in low Earth orbit to track moving vehicles and ships worldwide.

• Officials said initial launches are slated for the “mid-to-late 2020s,” providing a classified baseline capability before a larger constellation.

• The system is intended to fill GMTI gaps created by retiring legacy Air Force platforms.

🛡️ Army Plans 30 Percent Expansion of Air-Defense Force LINK

• The service will add three Patriot battalions, two Indirect Fire Protection Capability units, and multiple counter-UAS companies over eight years.

• Growth addresses lessons from recent conflicts that exposed shortfalls in layered defense against drones, rockets, and missiles.

• Recruiting, training, and infrastructure timelines are being finalized to meet the new force-structure goal.

🌏 Other Important News

• Austal USA begins second Stage 2 Offshore Patrol Cutter for Coast Guard Arctic missions LINK

• Rheinmetall & Lockheed detail GMARS long-range rocket launcher partnership LINK

• Army preparing to field new Stinger variant as M-SHORAD progresses LINK

• RAF airmen create mobile app to automate HALO/HAHO jump calculations LINK

• Army eyeing fall release of 2040 Air & Missile Defense Strategy LINK

• Missile-defense insiders stay mum on classified Golden Dome radar progress LINK

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