People do not realize how big of a deal this is. Each pylon supports 3APKWS pods which each support 7 apkws missiles.
Meaning if both pylons are maxed, that is 42 munitions per F-16 with Aim-9’s on the wingtips.
The navy F-18’s coming out of the Middle East had drone kills surpassing 20 per plane.
This is exactly what Ukraine needs, and each APKWS missile is like $15k mb $20k.
Edit 2: some general info.
Range is 2-12km from aircraft. IR and laser guided variants, IR is newer. They use the unguided hydra rocket motor of which a gazillion exist. Largely why this is so dirt cheap.
APKWS has been in Ukraine for 1-2 years via Vampire AD, as well as humvee mounted versions. These were laser guided iirc. Unsure of how effective, or the use case in combat.
Edit: Max APKWS load out is 42 munitions with current *known* F-16 load outs. I’m unsure if the F-16 can have two pylons with the pods of 3 per wing, so I’m using only the currently known max.
Just to elucidate my math:
2x pylons per F-16
For each pylon: 3x LAU-131 A Pods
For each LAU pod: 7 APKWS guided rockets
2x3x7=42
But Pootin’ said F16s wouldn’t help Ukraine in the war. The surest sign they would.
Very necessary considering the multi hundreds of shaheds launched per night.
I keep waiting for news of the laser weapon given by the UK.
Awesome! I just want Ukraine to win/get what they want! Who would’ve thought they’d fight RUS to basically a stalemate and only temporarily lose small amt land on border…but it is quite the war of attrition. Strong people, the ukrainians!
Give Ukraine everything needed to eject Russia from every last inch of the country !
Now I guess the next step is for them to improve the software and hardware to target multiple drones with separate optics at once (each laser tracking automatically obviously), because the numbers are definitely likely to only grow for how many drones are utilized in combat zones and that means you cannot let there be an overwhelming amount of targets for a pilot to work on targeting. Might even need separate command chains to approve targets at the rate they’d need to. Also I’m surprised that APKWS IIs are that maneuverable, or at least that accurate in their tracking controls to hit tiny moving lased targets just barely bigger than the rocket itself.
If Ukraine gets Australia’s tiger helicopters then they also use these guided rockets.
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People do not realize how big of a deal this is. Each pylon supports 3APKWS pods which each support 7 apkws missiles.
Meaning if both pylons are maxed, that is 42 munitions per F-16 with Aim-9’s on the wingtips.
The navy F-18’s coming out of the Middle East had drone kills surpassing 20 per plane.
This is exactly what Ukraine needs, and each APKWS missile is like $15k mb $20k.
Edit 2: some general info.
Range is 2-12km from aircraft. IR and laser guided variants, IR is newer. They use the unguided hydra rocket motor of which a gazillion exist. Largely why this is so dirt cheap.
APKWS has been in Ukraine for 1-2 years via Vampire AD, as well as humvee mounted versions. These were laser guided iirc. Unsure of how effective, or the use case in combat.
Edit: Max APKWS load out is 42 munitions with current *known* F-16 load outs. I’m unsure if the F-16 can have two pylons with the pods of 3 per wing, so I’m using only the currently known max.
Just to elucidate my math:
2x pylons per F-16
For each pylon: 3x LAU-131 A Pods
For each LAU pod: 7 APKWS guided rockets
2x3x7=42
But Pootin’ said F16s wouldn’t help Ukraine in the war. The surest sign they would.
Very necessary considering the multi hundreds of shaheds launched per night.
I keep waiting for news of the laser weapon given by the UK.
Awesome! I just want Ukraine to win/get what they want! Who would’ve thought they’d fight RUS to basically a stalemate and only temporarily lose small amt land on border…but it is quite the war of attrition. Strong people, the ukrainians!
Give Ukraine everything needed to eject Russia from every last inch of the country !
Now I guess the next step is for them to improve the software and hardware to target multiple drones with separate optics at once (each laser tracking automatically obviously), because the numbers are definitely likely to only grow for how many drones are utilized in combat zones and that means you cannot let there be an overwhelming amount of targets for a pilot to work on targeting. Might even need separate command chains to approve targets at the rate they’d need to. Also I’m surprised that APKWS IIs are that maneuverable, or at least that accurate in their tracking controls to hit tiny moving lased targets just barely bigger than the rocket itself.
If Ukraine gets Australia’s tiger helicopters then they also use these guided rockets.
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