The defenders of Ukraine showed how they hunt down Iranian Shahed drones launched by the Russian invaders. These drones have a long range and have been terrorizing Ukrainian cities since the end of 2022. Now Ukraine has tools to take them down and uses them to great effect.
And the Shahed-136 is going down. AGR-20 APKWS rockets make a quick work from Russian drones. (Screenshot)
The Shahed-136 is a relatively small target for larger air defence systems. Launching a large missile towards a small drone is simply uneconomical. Ukraine cannot afford to waste its best air defence capabilities on loitering munitions. Ukrainians usually hunt them with large anti-aircraft machine guns, autocannons and even simple automatic rifles. However, there are also cheap rockets that are perfect for this job.
The defenders of Ukraine demonstrated how an AGR-20 APKWS (Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System) rocket launched from the VAMPIRE system shoots down the Shahed drone.
👀🇺🇦 This is how Shahed in the Odesa region shot down with the help of “Vampire” pic.twitter.com/5tiBize256
— MAKS 23 🇺🇦👀 (@Maks_NAFO_FELLA) March 11, 2024
The APKWS is quite an interesting weapon. Although officially this rocket has been in service since 2012, it is not an entirely new weapon. In fact, the APKWS is a conversion kit for the Hydra 70 unguided rocket that transforms it into a laser-guided, high precision weapon. Generally speaking, a control module with fold-out control winglets is inserted between the rocket’s warhead and its engine.
The APKWS is one of the cheaper and smaller laser-guided rockets in the world and certainly in Ukraine. It is estimated that one such rocket costs about 22 thousand dollars. And it is possible to make a lot of them because there are so many Hydra 70 rockets. Ukrainian helicopters often fire Hydra 70 unguided rockets at Russian positions.
Another advantage of APKWS is its relatively small size. As the number in the name Hydra 70 indicates, it is a 70 mm rocket. The warhead is small, which is good for hunting the Shahed, because collateral damage risk can be significantly reduced.
The Hydra 70 is, figuratively speaking, like the Grad system for aircraft. A helicopter flies in, fires a volley of such rockets and they rain an uncontrollable hail on the enemy positions. The APKWS module turns the Hydra 70 into a guided anti-aircraft rocket. And the VAMPIRE launcher makes it possible to launch APKWS from the ground.
The VAMPIRE is a four-tube APKWS rocket launcher and a small sensor turret. The VAMPIRE is commonly installed on trucks and lighter vehicles. The same truck can carry ammunition to soldiers and shoot down drones or low-flying slower aircraft along the way.
Ukraine will likely need more tools to defend itself from the Russian drone attacks. Anti-aircraft guns are great, but rockets in many cases provide a more reliable defence.
Written by Povilas M.
Sources: Maks 23 Twitter, Wikipedia