Hellfire Missiles Are Turning up in the Unlikeliest of Places
A pair of American-made Hellfire anti-tank missiles were found on a passenger flight bound from Beirut, Lebanon to Portland, Oregon. The incident was the second involving Hellfire missiles in recent memory.
The missiles, packed in a wooden crate, were discovered by a bomb sniffing dog at Nikola Tesla International Airport in Belgrade. The missiles had arrived in Belgrade on an Air Serbia flight from Beirut and were to be transferred to another flight for their final trip to Portland International Airport.
The Lebanese Army later 'fessed up to shipping the missiles, saying that they were used in a training exercise and were being sent back to manufacturer Lockheed Martin's offices in Oregon. The army says the missiles had inert warheads and were not a danger to the flight.
First introduced in the early 1980s, the AGM-114 Hellfire missile is a mainstay of the U.S. military's anti-tank missile force. The missile weighs roughly 100 pounds, has a range of five miles, and is powerful enough to destroy all potential enemy tanks.
The missile were likely used to equip the Lebanese Army's two AC-208 Combat Caravan light attack aircraft. The AC-208 is a converted civilian Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft, modified to conduct surveillance and light attack duties. The plane can be equipped with up to two Hellfire missiles. The Combat Caravan is also used by the Iraqi Air Force.
According to Fox News, the missiles were traveling with the proper paperwork.
This is the second time this year Hellfire missiles shipped internationally have caused a commotion. In January it was revealed that an inert Hellfire missile shipped to a NATO exercise in Spain was somehow diverted to Cuba on the return trip. The Cuban government eventually returned the missile.
