70 mm Guided Rockets

101davidtan SG

New generation of 70 mm guided rockets are now slowly being introduced. APKWS II currently in low rate production and already used by USMC AH1 and UH1. Cost is about 1/3 of Hellfire AGM114 price and with up to 5 km range. Launched from standard 70 mm rocket pod, it gives addtional & lower cost precision firepower to heli gunships.

Mostly are semi active laser guided. Besides the above the other new gen 70 mm guided rockets include Raytheon’s Talon, Lockheed Martin’s GATR, ATK.Elbit’s GATR-L and Roketsan’s Cirit.

Great for SGs AH-64s.

weasel1962 SG

2nd and 3rd LRIP contract for APKWS II was $28k each. That's pretty expensive vis a vis JDAMs ($18k) and LJDAMs ($46k). The original intent was to keep APKWS under $10k each.

The 70mm M255A1/E1 flechette and M261 MPSM cargo rounds are way cheaper (~$1.55k each 2012 prices) and have almost the same amount of accuracy (due to cluster munition effect). SAF currently has zero hang-ups over use of cluster munitions. RSAF got DSCA notification for order of 9,170 hydra rockets in 1998 (type not indicated) of which a significant proportion would likely be flechette/cargo rounds. Further purchases would likely not be notified as only purchases above $5m are reported (higher if under DSCA and SG has increased limit for approvals over standard DSCA/DCS rules). At $1.15k (2012 prices) for M151 to M255 price range, that's 3000-4000+ rounds each. RSAF does not use that many.

I recommend reading the book "Apache Dawn". The british Apache pilots describing actual usage of the flechette rounds was pretty brutal on its lethal effectiveness. From the book (pg 82)... "The flechettes fired out from the warhead in a lethal cone of death capable of piercing thick walls, trees and even armour. Eight rockets releasing flechettes into an area the size of a football field was potentially a battle winner par excellence."

APKWS has a market due to US concerns over collateral damage but it is limited to light targets only (trucks and APCs at most). There are other competitors eg LM's DAGR (12km range but likely more costly), NG's GATR, Raytheon/UAE's Talon etc. It will be interesting to watch if RSAF does adopt PGM hydra rockets.

101davidtan SG

Still APKWS II cheaper than Hellfires which reportedly cost US$100k each. But of course guided Hydras have less range and less bang.

Flechette type rounds are very effective not only in Hydras but also for 120 mm tank rounds. Hope that L2 SGs have them.

I have not seen SAF Himar rocket purchases for cluster type munitions. Only GLMRS purchased. But hope that SAF is keeping 155 mm cluster rounds in inventory though.

With modern fire control and target acquisition arty with cluster munitions will neutralize targets with very high probability but probably with a few more rounds compared to a guided round. Probably cheaper too.

weasel1962 SG

The DAGR actually outranges the official hellfire range (12km fired from 20k ft vs 8km) but less (16) is carried vis a vis 19 round hydra rocket pod.

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/content/dam/lockh…

JAGM which will replace hellfires (~2016 onwards) will have 16km range for rotary wing aircraft.

Example: Boeing variant
http://www.boeing.com/bds/mediakit/2012/ausa/ja…