Britain seeks Hellfire missiles

WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Britain is seeking 500 Hellfire missiles from the United States for use in air support missions.

The requested missiles and associated equipment -- worth about $80 million – would come from existing U.S. Army stocks under a U.S. Foreign Military Sales deal.

The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which manages the FMS program, has told Congress that the U.S. State Department has approved the request.

"This sale directly contributes to the foreign and national security policies of the United States by enhancing the close air support capability of the UK in support of NATO and other coalition operations," DSCA said.

"The proposed sale improves the UK's ability to meet current and future threats by providing close air support to counter enemy attacks on coalition ground forces in U.S. CENTCOM's area of responsibility."

CENTCOM's AOR includes the Middle East and Afghanistan in Southwest Asia.