Swedish protection prime Saab is exploring the Superior Precision Kill Weapon System as a less expensive armament choice for its JAS 39 Gripen fighters, agency executives informed Enterprise Insider this week.
“The APKWS is in curiosity as a result of different platforms are actually integrating 70mm guided rockets. So we’re, after all, eyeing that functionality now,” Jussi Halmetoja, operations advisor for Saab’s air area, mentioned on the Singapore Airshow.
Halmetoja mentioned the corporate was taking a look at methods to combine the weapons system, which makes use of a guided model of the Hydra 70mm rocket, onto its older Gripen C and newest Gripen E models.
He made the feedback as he and Mikael Franzên, chief advertising officer for the Gripen program, mentioned the corporate’s statement from the Ukraine battle that it wants extra cheap weapons to counter uncrewed aerial techniques.
“I imply, proper now we’re utilizing very costly weapons to kill very low cost drones,” Franzén mentioned of conventional Western air fight.
He added that Saab is hoping to doubtlessly equip the Gripen with techniques that may match a number of munitions onto a single hardpoint.
“In the event you can have 4 or 10 on every hardpoint, then you may kill much more drones,” Franzên mentioned. The APWKS is usually mounted on plane with multilaunch pods.
Kyiv has signed a letter of intent with Sweden to doubtlessly purchase as much as 150 Gripen E fighters within the coming years. Ukraine’s air force has but to fly the jet, which is touted as a great fighter for battling Russia as a result of it is constructed to function from dispersed, rugged airfields and within the Arctic area.
Kyiv is now flying a lot of its small fleet of F-16 Preventing Falcons from such small airfields, usually transferring the plane to extend their survivability.
However Franzén and Halmetoja mentioned the Gripen can flip round a lot quicker from dispersed airfields and be prepared for a brand new mission inside 10 minutes of touchdown.
Sweden, South Africa, Brazil, Thailand, Czechia, and Hungary are among the many nations that fly the Gripen.
The APWKS, in the meantime, is already being deployed throughout numerous techniques in Ukraine.
For instance, the VAMPIRE counter-UAS techniques function a four-barrel launcher for the guided Hydra rockets that may be mounted on a pickup truck.
The price of utilizing one APKWS spherical is estimated at $20,000 to $35,000, in comparison with weapons extra usually related to trendy fighters, such because the AIM-9 Sidewinder, which prices roughly $450,000, and the AIM-120 AMRAAM, which prices roughly $1 million.
Considerations about missile costs against cheaper drones have risen steadily for the reason that battle started, and as Russia has constantly grown its loitering munitions mass manufacturing.
Outdoors Ukraine, the US army has additionally been utilizing the APWKS to lately battle drone assaults within the Center East. The weapons system, loaded on American F-16s and F-15s, was accountable for roughly 40% of the drone kills scored by US forces towards Houthi drones throughout final yr’s Operation Tough Rider.
