BAE Systems wins new APKWS C-UAS contract from NAVAIR

US firm BAE Systems Information and Electronic Warfare Systems has won a US$1.74 billion ($2.6 billion)  contract from US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) to build 55,000 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS) 70mm rockets.

The APKWS will be used as Counter-Uncrewed Aerial System (C-UAS) weapons and can handle up to Group 3 drones. BAE Systems says the APKWS has been integrated with more than 45 different fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. In the Middle East fighters have successfully used APKWS to engage loitering munitions launched by the Houthi militia in Yemen, according to authoritative journal FLIGHT International.

To be completed by the end of 2031, this contract will upgrade NAVAIR’s current unguided 70mm rockets, fired from a Hydra 70 pod, to a semi-active laser guided precision weapon for the US Navy, US Army and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers.

Back in June this year Melbourne, Florida-based L3Harris Technologies announced it had won a new contract of undisclosed value for additional VAMPIRE (Vehicle-Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Equipment) vehicle-mounted C-UAS systems. Its original order, supporting European operations, came in 2023.

VAMPIRE integrates the APKWS with an L3Harris WESCAM MX-19D RSTA targeting and sensor system and L3Harris Widow 2.0 mission management software to enable human operators to identify and engage ground and air targets quickly, the company says. The APKWS also uses a TSC/L3Harris proximity fuze which enables the weapon to destroy  UASs at a fraction of the cost of using expensive guided missiles for the task.

VAMPIRE has also shown potential for maritime applications, offering a solution against UASs, fast inshore attack craft and what L3Harris terms ‘low-slow flyers’. Learning from the ongoing war in Ukraine, the US Department of Defense has established Joint Interagency Task Force 401 to coordinate all counter-UAS activities.