GA-ASI and the U.S. Air Pressure examined the MQ-9A Reaper with APKWS laser-guided rockets, firing at each air and floor targets on the Nevada Take a look at and Coaching Vary.
Basic Atomics Aeronautical Methods has introduced a take a look at in collaboration with the U.S. Air Pressure which noticed the MQ-9A Reaper Remotely Piloted Plane (RPA) using Superior Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) laser-guided rockets. The corporate stated the testing befell not too long ago on the Nevada Take a look at and Coaching Vary (NTTR).
All through an unspecified variety of take a look at flights, the take a look at crew demonstrated “a number of sorts and variations of shot profiles, together with aerial targets,” in line with the assertion. “All pictures had been executed flawlessly by the MQ-9A crews utilizing laser-guided rockets and a specialised launcher,” says the corporate.
A photograph accompanying the assertion reveals the MQ-9A outfitted with a LAU-131 A/A pod loaded with inert AGR-20 rockets, because the APKWS is designated by the navy. Nonetheless, the assertion didn’t point out if the AGR-20F Fastened Wing, Air Launched, Counter-Unmanned Plane Methods Ordnance (FALCO) had been additionally employed.
The corporate additional said that “this effort supported real-time technological adaptation necessities, shifting quickly from planning to integration and flight take a look at.” It’s at the moment unclear if this implies the mixing of the APKWS on the MQ-9A was in response to an Pressing Operational Want (UON).
In an effort to quickly take a look at and make new capabilities accessible to warfighters, U.S. Air Pressure and GA-ASI collaborate on demo of Superior Precision Kill Weapon System utilizing #MQ9A Reaper®.
Learn the information: #APKWS pic.twitter.com/lm2Us4mdEi
— Basic Atomics Aeronautical Methods, Inc (GA-ASI) (@GenAtomics_ASI) Might 11, 2026
“We acknowledge the worth {that a} system like APKWS brings to the MQ-9 plane as a software to counter one-way assault drones,” stated GA-ASI President David R. Alexander. “APKWS can enhance the variety of weapons the MQ-9A is ready to carry, as properly with the ability to carry new decrease price weapons. Greater than something, this integration effort underscores how authorities and trade can collaborate to quickly take a look at and make new capabilities accessible to warfighters.”
Final yr GA-ASI disclosed that the Grey Eagle Brief Take-Off Touchdown (STOL) carried out take a look at flights with the APKWS, efficiently partaking goal drones. The testing was meant to show a novel Counter-UAS (C-UAS) functionality for the unmanned plane.
The importance of the testing
The introduction of the APKWS on the MQ-9A Reaper would give to the U.S. Air Pressure a persistent airborne C-UAS functionality with decrease prices in comparison with fighter jets. Moreover, the MQ-9A would be capable of stay on station for much longer than fighter jets with out the necessity for aerial refueling.
Till now, the U.S. Air Pressure flew Fight Air Patrols (CAP) with F-16 Combating Falcons, F-15E Strike Eagles and A-10C Thunderbolt IIs armed with APKWS rockets which might be employed in opposition to drones. Nonetheless, this comes with a big logistical and financial burden, as demonstrated by the pressing combatant command requirement which resulted in a Probe Refueling Adapter for the A-10 to deal with tanker’s shortages.
The Reaper can be less expensive to fly, with an estimated price per flight hour between $3,000 and $4,000, in comparison with the aforementioned fighters which may vary between $20,000 and $30,000 per flight hour. Including this to the low price of the APWKS, it’s easy to see why the Air Pressure is engaged on this undertaking.
The MQ-9A used within the C-UAS position would convey one other benefit, as it will unburden fighter jets from this position and permit them to concentrate on different missions. An obstacle can be the velocity as, with a cruise velocity of roughly 200 knots, the Reaper would wish time to intercept targets farther away.
It’s at the moment unclear what number of LAU-131 A/A rocket pods might be employed by the MQ-9A. Nonetheless, with some MQ-9 variants having six hardpoints, we may have a look at a 42-rocket capability, and much more if extra pods might be carried by every hardpoint.
The APKWS
The AGR-20 Superior Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) is a conversion of the Hydra 70 unguided rockets which provides a laser steering package to the baseline weapon, turning it right into a precision-guided munition (PGM). The Hydra 70 is itself derived from a earlier weapon, the two.75-inch (70 mm) Mk 4/Mk 40 Folding-Fin Aerial Rocket (FFAR) of the late Nineteen Forties, a system extensively employed within the Korean and Vietnam wars.
By including a steering part to an inexpensive rocket (inserted in the midst of the rocket, between the 10-pound high-explosive warhead on the entrance and the Mk66 Mod 4 rocket motor on the rear), the U.S. Air Pressure has subsequently been in a position to acquire low-cost sensible munitions that can be utilized within the air-to-ground position. These are significantly helpful when the complete warhead of bigger bombs (like JDAM) and missiles (just like the AGM-65 Maverick or AGM-114 Hellfire anti-tank missiles) shouldn’t be wanted to acquire the specified results or not appropriate because of the hazard of collateral damages.
The steering part of the APKWS consists of 4 foldable wings with wing-mounted laser seeker assortment optics with a large area of view which allow to interact each shifting and stationary targets. BAE Methods, which produces the weapon, says that “no modifications are required to the rocket, firing platform or hearth management system,” with the one identified modification being an extended variant of the LAU-131/A 7-round rocket launcher usually employed by the U.S. Air Pressure, referred to as the LAU-131 A/A (the Navy makes use of the AGR-20 with the same LAU-68 F/A).
Additional creating an air-to-air functionality out of those older rockets is one other spectacular feat for the U.S. Air Pressure, that has now the chance to interact targets at a really small fraction of the price of different current missiles. Whereas a present past visible vary radar-guided AIM-120 Superior Medium Vary Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) is priced at greater than $1 million every and an AIM-9X Sidewinder Block II has a price ticket of round $420,000.
The excessive price of the interceptors in opposition to these low-cost targets and the journal dimension of the launching platforms have been two of the primary considerations highlighted by forces countering these assaults. Then again, the steering part of an APKWS II solely prices round $15,000, with the complete APKWS II spherical solely costing a couple of thousand {dollars} extra (to incorporate the warhead and the motor).
The low price of the APKWS II comes with some restrictions, because the weapon is shorter ranged than the present USAF missiles, and the warhead can be smaller. Nonetheless, in opposition to gradual and low-cost targets like drones, the AGR-20 can present the Air Pressure with a extremely cost-effective weapon.
Furthermore, the APKWS II can present American jets with deeper magazines for air-to-air munitions, as they are often carried in a 7-shot rocket pod on a single hardpoint that would in any other case take solely a single AIM-9X or AIM-120 missile. This function may are available hand whereas going through swarm or saturation assaults from enemy drones, a tactic that has already been utilized by Russia of their aggression of Ukraine, by Iran of their assaults on Israel and typically on a smaller scale even by the Houthis.
