Julian Kerr | Brisbane
The first launch from a Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) of a 70mm laser-guided rocket will take place at Woomera in November, BAE Systems Australia disclosed at Land Forces 2014.
The company’s Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) uses a mid-body guidance kit to turn a standard 70mm (2.75inch) unguided rocket into a lightweight laser-guided projectile able to reliably hit soft and lightly-armoured targets in confined areas.
At one-third of the cost and weight of other laser-guided weapons, including the AGM-114 Hellfire now deployed on the Tigers, the APKWS technology is intended to fill the gap between unguided small diameter rockets and larger diameter anti-armour munitions.
In ground-launched tests at Woomera in August, four unguided 70mm rockets with a range of about five km ended up to three km from the intended target.
By comparison, seven ground-launched APKWS were within two metres of the target.
The Tiger can carry 19 70mm rockets in a pod on each of two inner hardpoints, and seven 70mm rockets in a pod on each of two outer hardpoints.
This can be varied with rockets on the outer hardpoints and two Hellfires on one or both of the two inner hardpoints.
The ATKWS requires no modifications to rocket motors, warheads or operational flight programs.
The mid-body guidance design utilises optical apertures so that, unlike typical nose-guided weapons, multiple rockets in a pod survive adjacent launches and work reliably, the company says.
The munition achieved initial operating capability in 2012 on US AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters a subsequently deployed to Afghanistan.
According to BAES, there it achieved a hit rate of more than 95 per cent.
The APKWS received airworthiness release on the Apache AH-64 attack helicopter in April and is being adapted for the M-60R, potentially creating in some situations a low-cost alternative to Hellfire for the RAN’s new combat helicopters.