After more than a decade of development, the Pentagon's finally sending its newest laser-guided rocket into battle. First stop for the relatively svelte weapon: Afghanistan.
The Navy on Tuesday confirmed that they've deployed the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) to several Marine Corps units in Afghanistan. Right now, the weapons are integrated with two different helicopters – the AH-1W Super Cobra and the UH-1Y Super Huey – but they've got the capability to be fired off from pretty much any aerial vehicle.
Of course, the military's already got plenty of air-launched munitions, from ultra-pricey Hellfire missiles to stealthy, radar-evading cruise missiles. The APKWS is $90,000 cheaper than a Hellfire – the military's go-to aerial munition – and because it's a smaller missile, military brass hope it'll yield fewer dead civilians during air strikes.
It makes sense that the military would deploy the APKWS to Afghanistan, before sending the system anywhere else. Now that the U.S. is withdrawing troops from Afghanistan – and maybe even doing it quicker than anticipated – the military's no doubt looking for a combat strategy that'll accomodate more airstrikes and fewer boots-on-the ground.
Not to mention one that might reduce civilian casualties. Those death tolls, as recently as last summer, continued to increase: A United Nations report, for example, last year concluded that civilian deaths and injuries soared 20 percent between 2010 and 2011. The vast majority of those injuries and deaths were the result of insurgent violence, but U.S. attacks were still behind around 10 percent of civilian casualties, and commanders have vowed to reduce them.
APKWS is a straightforward weapon. Combine existing 2.75-inch, unguided rockets with laser-targeting technology to enable more precise accuracy. The missile's laser-guided segment is designed to be fitted into existing rockets between the warhead and the motor. That way, any aerial vehicle capable of firing those munitions, including mainstays like Apache helicopters, will be able to take advantage of the system.
Sounds simple enough. But it's taken an extremely long time for the APKWS to actually be deployed. The system's been in development since 1996, well before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2005, an initial iteration of the system – developed by General Dynamics – was canceled because of lackluster test results. The program was later revived, with BAE Systems taking the reins.
With a pricetag that's around $10,000 per missile, the systems are an order of magnitude less expensive than Hellfire missiles, the military standbys that run around $100,000 each. And it's not just the cost. At 35 pounds, the APKWS is a third as heavy as the Hellfire, which was designed to target bigger, more heavily armored targets than those that U.S. forces typically encounter in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In other words, the Hellfires dealt out way too much bang (and ensuing civilian casualties) than they needed to. And if the APKWS is a plug-and-play guided rocket that weighs a third as a Hellfire, then it can probably aid with the weaponization of ever-smaller drones.
The APKWS could also aid another star-crossed military endeavor. The Navy's Fire Scout robotic helicopters, which were grounded last week after recent mishaps and crash-landings, are expected to be armed with the APKWS missiles when they next hit the skies.
