Belgium Proves F-16 Anti-Drone Rocket That Bypasses U.S. Supply Chain, Ukraine Set to Benefit | Defense Express (en.defence-ua.com)

submitted 4 days ago by supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz to c/ukraine@sopuli.xyz

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Well there goes the shahed strategy being effective!

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[-] JillyB@beehaw.org 11 points 4 days ago

Interesting. It seems like a copy of the same concept as the US APKWS which is just a cheap 70mm rocket with a guidance kit fitted to the front. I'm not surprised that someone else did the same thing since the whole point of the concept is that it's cheap and easy to roll out. I suspect that we'll see these "rockets" (missiles?) used for ground based air defenses before too long.

[-] fullsquare@awful.systems 7 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

No not really. APKWS or JDAM are retrofits of old weapons with new guidance package. Belgium has no large stockpile of old unguided weapons so they get to design the entire thing from ground up. The principle is similar, its a laser guided beam riding missile shot from a heli or a jet, but APKWS sensors are on leading edge of winglets and this new thing has sensor in nose like a tiny Stugna. overall drop-in APKWS replacement with 10k manufactured per month target