APKWS II Rocket

Missileer

Missileer

Active member
This is one of only two projects I worked on from concept to first fire. Originally, it was the Low Cost Precision Kill rocket made from a Hydra-70, 2.75 inch dumb rocket that we fitted with a laser guidance system using circuitry from a Paveway smart bomb. Later we added a radar guidance module. It's funny how a simple program evolved into this when it was moved from our facility in Texas to the "home office" in Tucson. We do all the hard work and they bolt on a few whistles and claim it as their own.

http://www.spacewar.com/news/miltech-05zzzzp.html

A Raytheon-led team completed a series of sled and arena and fuse sled tests, successfully demonstrating a low-cost lethality [FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]solution[/FONT][/FONT] for its Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) design.
 
I read that and I still have no idea what exactly we're talking about.

It blows stuff up for cheap, is that it? And does it shoot from space or something? I don't get that "spacewar" part.

Help!
 
Whispering Death said:
I read that and I still have no idea what exactly we're talking about.

It blows stuff up for cheap, is that it? And does it shoot from space or something? I don't get that "spacewar" part.

Help!
Click to expand...

The "space war" junk is just the website subject matter. This is a rocket that was used in tubes mounted under either aircraft wings or helicopters. To hit a target, the aircraft had to aim by pointing itself at the target and firing the whole pod at once and hope you hit something. They were used in WWII on through Vietnam and were cheap. We added folding canards to give it azimuth and elevation to follow a coded laser to the target. It saved Hellfires which was all we had for soft targets when they were meant for hard targets. These filled the gap for taking out vehicles, troops, buildings, grounded aircraft, and such saving Hellfires and Mavericks for tanks and other hard targets.
 
Whispering Death said:
Okay I'm following you. So how did Raytheon get the credit if ya'll already invented it?
Click to expand...

Because I work for Raytheon. It's a long story but to make it as short as possible. In 1997, Raytheon bought several defense companies, Texas Instruments where I was working at the time, Hughes Aircraft, and several more that I can't recall. TI had a facility called the Missile Factory in Texas which was moved to Tucson, the home of Raytheon missile works and took programs such as HARM, Paveway, Javelin, Tow, and more I don't remember. They moved missiles from Hughes such as Maverick, Sidewinder, AMRAAM, and more.

When these programs left, they then became Raytheon with very little mention of having been Hughes and TI engineered and produced.
 
Here's some pictures of the development stage of the early model LCPK. We were in Yuma, Az at "rocket alley".
LCPK005.jpg

Looking downrange from launch van.
LCPK.jpg

Launch crew, they do all the heavy lifting.
LCPK001.jpg

We had to paint black stripes on the bodies for checking roll in the high speed photos.
LCPK003.jpg

Ready for motor installation by the Army crew.
LCPK004.jpg

I caught the motor burn with a cheap throw away camera.




LCPK002.jpg

Notice the guy smoking while they install the motor. I was hiding.
 
Dear Member,

Interesting. Is it a laser-homing or laser beam-riding?

And thanks for posting the information.

Jack E. Hammond


BTW> I don't know where the file is. But the Swiss and US team that developed the ADATS offered a version of it to replace the Hellfire at one time on the AH-64A. The US Army was not interested.
 
Jack,
These particular tests I showed in the pictures are radar guided but the laser mode is target designation. Since we used old technology from the Paveway GBS, the sensor is a quad array and corrected by how far into each quadrant the target laser moved. The laser uses programmed in code and switches on and off at a predetermined rate and another parameter that is still classified.
 
Missileer said:
Jack,
These particular tests I showed in the pictures are radar guided but the laser mode is target designation. Since we used old technology from the Paveway GBS, the sensor is a quad array and corrected by how far into each quadrant the target laser moved. The laser uses programmed in code and switches on and off at a predetermined rate and another parameter that is still classified.
Click to expand...

Dear Member,

In other words it is laser-homing. Also another advantage of using the 2.75 inch rocket is that the attack helicopter can give fire support closer to the friendlies (ie the Hellfire had one hell've big warhead). But I hope somehow the cost can be kept a lot lower. That will be the kicker.

Jack E. Hammond
 
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