BAE Systems' Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System Is Getting A News Warhead

 

Warzone/The Drive: Laser-Guided Rockets Are Getting New Highly-Versatile Anti-Armor Warhead 

The new warhead has multiple applications, further broadening the APKWS guidance kit’s flexibility. 

The Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System, or APKWS, laser guidance kit designed by BAE Systems has been tested in a surface-to-surface role with a new highly versatile, multi-purpose warhead that is capable of taking on armor and other targets. The new warhead is provided by General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems. The test demonstrated added flexibility for not only the APKWS itself, which is most often employed in air-to-ground applications against more lightly armored targets, but also for all platforms that are capable of firing APKWS rockets.  

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WNU Editor: There is a huge demand for these missiles .... BAE awarded $2.7 billion APKWS laser-guided rocket production contract (Defense Post).

How U.S. Defense Contractors Make Billions Off Missile Sales (Video)

 

WNU Editor: Missiles are the future when it comes to warfare. From CNBC .... Missile sales are the number two defense export in the U.S. and production is dominated by a handful of companies such as Raytheon, Boeing and Lockheed Martin. As technology advances, will expensive missiles and hypersonic glide weapons dominate the market, or could start-ups and cheaper technology change the missile economy?

U.S. Air Force's Newest Air-To-Air Missile Is So Secretive That They Require A Custom Storage Bunker

USAF

Warzone/The Drive: New AIM-260 Missiles Are So Secretive They Will Require A Custom Storage Bunker At Hill AFB

Budget docs dated March of 2019 give the first official explanation of the program and why it needs a $6.5M high-security storage vault at Hill AFB.

Big news hit in late June that the USAF and the Navy have been well on their way to secretly developing an all-new beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile intended to replace the AIM-120 AMRAAM. The missile is officially called the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile, or JATM. The effort has been fast-tracked in order to counter rapid developments in long-range air-to-air missile capabilities among America's peer state competitors and especially China. You can read all about this new missile in our recent article on it linked here, but Air Force budget documents dating back to March of 2019 appear to have been the first source to detail the program and underline just how important the Pentagon thinks the secrecy surrounding it is to national security.

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WNU Editor: This air-to-air missile must contain a lot of secrets.

A New World Missile Arms Race Is Underway

Pershing II intermediate range ballistic missiles. Photo: U.S. Army (Department of Defense)

Tim Fernholz, Quartz: The world is heading for a new missile arms race

The world is witnessing a huge growth in the number of ballistic missiles used to threaten enemies thousands of kilometers away with conventional and nuclear weapons, as tensions ratchet higher between world powers and international arms agreements fall by the wayside.

China is building an enormous arsenal of missiles to deter potential US attacks, and, along with Russia, it’s developed hypersonic missiles that offer an unprecedented challenge to air defense systems. In the Middle East, a hidden arms race is ongoing between Saudi Arabia and Iran to develop rocket weapons. And the United States under president Donald Trump is giving up on arms control agreements and preparing to invest in more missiles and missile defenses.

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WNU Editor: This global race to build missiles has actually been going on for a very long time.

China Unveils It's Next-Gen Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (Video)

Sputnik: WATCH: China Unveils Next-Gen Intercontinental Ballistic Missile

Beijing’s Dongfeng-41 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test was broadcast over China Central Television on Sunday, about one week after images of the multi-warhead missile went viral across Chinese social media platforms.

The missile has been tested eight times, according to the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post, which reported that the most recent launch took place early November somewhere in China's western desert region.

DF-41 is one of the farthest traveling ICBMs in the world, rubbing shoulders with Israel's Jericho 3, Russia's RS-26 Rubezh and the US' LGM-30 Minuteman III.

According to Chinese state media, the ICBM has a range of 12,000 kilometers (7,500 miles), can strike within 328 feet (100 meters) of its intended target, and cruises faster than Mach 10 (7,672 miles per hour).

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Why North Korea Can't Build An ICBM (yet)

Popular Mechanics: Why It's So Hard To Build an ICBM

It's not just North Korea that has struggled with the technology.

The complexity of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) is so extreme that merely building one has, over the decades, become a source of national pride. Fewer than ten countries have do it, and when one gets there, as North Korea has begun testing with the Hwasong-14, there are hopes that it can usher in a new era in the country's history.

But what makes ICBMs so hard to built?

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WNU Editor:  It's good to know that designing and building an ICBM is not that easy .... but the North Koreans are making strides.

Pentagon Study: Missile Proliferation And Threats Surging Worldwide

Ballistic missile is launched and tested in an undisclosed location, Iran © Mahmood Hosseini / Reuters

Bloomberg: Missile Threats Surging Worldwide, U.S. Defense Study Finds

* ‘Dramatic improvements in accuracy’ cited in report on trends
* The missiles can carry nuclear or conventional warheads

Technology for ballistic and cruise missiles is advancing in countries from North Korea and Iran to Russia and China, increasing potential threats to the U.S. even if they don’t carry nuclear warheads, according to a new Pentagon report.

“Many countries view ballistic and cruise missile systems as cost-effective weapons and symbols of national power,” defense intelligence agencies said in the report obtained by Bloomberg News in advance of its release. “Many ballistic and cruise missiles are armed with weapons of mass destruction. However, numerous types of ballistic and cruise missiles have achieved dramatic improvements in accuracy that allow them to be used effectively with conventional warheads.”

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Update: Worldwide advancements in missile technologies putting US more at risk – Pentagon report (RT).

WNU Editor: Advances in technology makes these developments possible. But as bad as it is now .... the trend lines are going to get worse when these technologies become available in the next few years .... Hypersonic Weapon Defense Will Be Hard and Expensive (Popular Mechanics).