August 10, 2009: The UAE (United Arab Emirates) has ordered 362 more Hellfire II missiles from the United States. The Hellfire II weighs 106 pounds, carries a 20 pound warhead and has a range of 8,000 meters. The missile is most commonly used by the AH-64 helicopter gunship (which the UAE has 30 of). An AH-64 can carry up to sixteen Hellfires. The major naval threat in the Persian Gulf are hundreds of small, but armed, Iranian speedboats. The Hellfire, launched from a helicopter, is an excellent cure for this problem.
The UAE has been ordering a lot of American weapons lately, largely because it can, and in response to the increasingly hostile attitudes expressed by Iran.
