BAE Systems performed ground-to-air test firings to prove that 70mm rockets guided by APKWS guidance kits are effective against drones.
Five APKWS-guided counter-UAS rockets were fired from a containerized weapon system during the demonstration in Southern Arizona, destroying all targets, including fast-moving drones. The results of the tests show that APKWS guidance kits can enable low-cost, precision strikes against airborne threats.
By combining standard motors and warheads with APKWS guidance kits and proven proximity/point-detonation fuses, the 70mm rockets can destroy Class-2 aerial drones. The result is a low-cost, supersonic, lock-on-after-launch strike weapon with a large 10-pound warhead capable of destroying large drones in seconds with or without direct contact.
APKWS-guided rockets are effective against both stationary and moving soft and armoured targets. They can be fired from various platforms, including jets, helicopters, trucks, boats, and weapon stations, and stowed APKWS guidance kits, unlike nose-mounted seeker optics, protect seeker optics from adjacent rocket fire.
Hydra"s are combat-proven rockets since the Vietnam War. Turkish Defence Company Roketsan built 70 mm laser-guided missiles, Cirit, to fill the guided missile gap. BAE Systems developed an APKWS kit to transform those Hydra Rockets into precision missiles.
