Air Force Wants Guided Rocket System for Ground-Based Counter Drone Ops

The Air Force wants to adapt the laser-guided rockets it currently mounts on fighter aircraft for targeting swarms of small drones for use from the ground.

The AGR-20 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS) fires Hydra-70 rockets equipped with a laser-guidance kit, which is known to be used on Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters as an air-to-air drone killer.

The Air Force Counter Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems branch is now looking for defense firms that can produce ground-based systems for using APKWS rockets against small Group 1 drones up to larger Group 3 systems, according to a Nov. 19 request for information.

This is the latest attempt by the service to create an arsenal of weapons to defend air bases from the rapidly evolving enemy drone threat. The Air Force is focusing on counter-drone technologies, ranging from high-power microwave systems and low-cost missiles to avoid exhausting its expensive precision munitions on cheap unmanned aerial systems that can be easily replaced.

The solicitation is focused on systems capable of “taking track data/queues from sensors to laze targets and launch guided Hydra-70 APKWS II rockets.” The Air Force wants firms to be specific about system transport options such as whether they are vehicle or trailer mounted and space requirements in wooded and urban areas, the document states. The service is also interested in systems that can engage more than four drone swarms “in a short period of time,” the RFI states. 

The Air Force had originally envisioned—and used—APKWS as air-to-ground weapons, but U.S. fighters have used APKWS to down drones in the Middle East as a more cost-effective and plentiful munition than guided missiles. The service first demonstrated that APKWS II rockets could be used effectively in an air-to-air role on an F-16 in a 2019 test.

The system costs less than $40,000 and has a per-shot cost of $24,900, according to a recent Center for a New American Security report coauthored by Stacie Pettyjohn, director of the think tank’s defense program.

“It’s much cheaper than an AIM-9,” Pettyjohn said, referring to the air-to-air missile that costs more than half a million dollars each. “It’s much cheaper than a lot of the options out there.”

“I think it makes a good bit of sense. … They work well, but I don’t think that should be the only solution that they’re looking at,” Pettyjohn added.

Equipping existing cannon systems in the inventory, with enhanced, air-bursting ammunition is another cost-effective option for “covering all potential avenues of attack” on large air bases, she said.

“Guns are relatively short range, but they are plentiful, have a high rate of fire, and use relatively cheap ammunition, making them an accessible and potent option for defeating drones,” according to the CNAS report, “Countering the Swarm: Protecting the Joint Force in the Drone Age.” “When paired with laser rangefinders or fire control radars for targeting and enhanced with proximity-fused fragmentation ammunition that increases the likelihood of damaging a small and maneuverable drone, guns can be an effective and affordable short-range defense.”

APWKS has already been employed as a successful ground-launched counter-drone weapon, notably by Ukraine, which has downed one-way attack drones launched by Russia using the VAMPIRE system, which fires the laser-guided Hydra rockets.

Defense firms have until Dec. 31 to respond to the RFI, which is also interested in systems that have previously integrated with the Air Force’s Small Unmanned Aircraft Defense System, or SUADS, program that relies on the Multi-Environmental Domain Unmanned Systems Application (MEDUSA) command-and-control network, the RFI states. MEDUSA ties together multiple sensor technologies to track, identify, and disable drones.

The Air Force also wants to know if potential systems require an operator to launch the rockets at targets and whether they have the capability to prioritize targets based on threat level, the document states.

Pentagon Editor Chris Gordon contributed reporting.