BAE delivers 100,000th APKWS as economical counter-drone solutions surge

As European countries clamour to provide their forces with a counter-drone capability, BAE has delivered its 100,000 APKWS. The US has been using the APKWS to bring down drones in the Red Sea, and it offers an economical route to doing so. 

By Sam Cranny-Evans, editor of Calibre Defence, published on February 26, 2026. 

BAE Systems has delivered its 100,000th Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) laser kit, according to a February 24 press release. The company was awarded a contract to produce the APKWS around 12 years ago, and it has been through multiple revisions. 

It consists of a laser guidance kit that can be fitted to 2.75 inch rockets and fired from fixed and rotary wing aircraft, as well as drones and ground vehicles. Originally designed for air-to-ground engagements with limited collateral damage, it has evolved through a series of trials to provide air-to-air capabilities. 

The APKWS was paired with a US F-16 in 2019 and used to engage a large drone through the aircraft’s targeting pod. At the time, the experiment was designed to see if the AGR-20A (the in-service name for the APKWS) could intercept cruise missiles. 

The US Air Force’s standard response to cruise missiles was to use the AIM-120, which is incredibly expensive compared to an APKWS. Since then, the AGR-20A has been deployed to the Red Sea to intercept Houthi drones, and Ukraine has used them against Shaheds after receiving the rockets in December last year.

BAE looks set to continue in supplying the APKWS, having recently received a $1.7 billion contract from the US Navy. That award, which had an initial order of $322 million, will allow the production of tens of thousands of kits, according to BAE. 

Calibre comment: Cost effective air defence (again) 

European countries are scrambling to shore up their air defence networks. It should have been clear before 2022 that more air defence was needed – Russia was hardly subtle in its signalling. But the war in Ukraine has driven home the consequences of not having good air defence. The problem with air defence is that it does tend to be expensive and high end systems are limited in utility. 

To use a tank as a comparison: A tank can be used to good effect in a counter-insurgency campaign or war with a major state. But a Patriot air defence system in Europe would only really be used in a high intensity war. However, the APKWS does show that additional solutions to provide air defence mass are available. Ultimately, Europe would need time in the event of a war with Russia. This is because it is likely that the Kremlin would want to force a result early on. Shaping the initial period of the war with massed cruise missile and one-way drone strikes would be their best route to achieving that. 

However, if most European air forces had a cost-effective capability like the APKWS, even going so far as to deploy fleets of lower-capability aircraft specifically for that role, then Europe could be confident in its ability to deflect initial strikes. A range of options are being explored in the air defence field, many of them novel and unproven – it makes sense to exploit that which already works, firts.

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The lead image shows an artist’s rendering of an aircraft firing an APKWS-equipped rocket. Credit: BAE Systems.