Laser-Guided Rockets Shown Shooting Down Houthi Drones For First Time

By The War Zone | Created at 2025-03-19 16:41:16 | Updated at 2025-03-20 15:26:19 22 hours ago

We now have our first look at laser-guided 70mm Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) rockets launched from U.S. fighters destroying Houthi one-way attack drones. The U.S. military has also disclosed for what appears to be the first time that it is using APKWS IIs in a specific counter-drone configuration in the air-to-air role. TWZ was the first to report that U.S. Air Force F-16 Vipers have been employing APKWS IIs, originally designed as air-to-ground munitions, as a lower-cost option for downing Houthi drones.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) released a video, seen below, via its official account on X today showing two separate instances of APKWS IIs blowing up two Houthi one-way attack drones. “U.S. Fighter aircraft shoot down Iran-backed Houthi one-way-attack drones with AGR-20 FALCO Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) Laser Guided 2.75″ Rockets,” an accompanying post says. AGR-20 is the formal U.S. military designation for the APKWS II rocket.

When or where exactly the footage was shot is unknown, as is what aircraft fired the rockets. Just over the weekend, unspecified Air Force aircraft did reportedly shoot down 10 Houthi drones aimed at the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman and its accompanying strike group, according to ABC News. A Navy plane destroyed another uncrewed attacker. The attacks came in response to renewed large-scale U.S. strikes against the Iranian-backed militants in Yemen. Whether the clips that CENTCOM has now released are in any way related to attacks aimed at the Truman Carrier Strike Group has not been confirmed.

“The latest Weapon System Video published by USCENTCOM depicts a U.S. fighter aircraft employing the AGR-20F Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System,” a spokesperson for U.S. Air Forces Central (AFCENT), the Air Force’s top command in the Middle East, told TWZ in response to queries seeking more context about the footage.

TWZ has confirmed previously that Air Force F-16s have been firing APKWS IIs in the air-to-air role against Houthi drones since sometime last year. Since January, multiple sets of pictures have been released showing Vipers flying over and around the Red Sea with air-to-air loadouts that include one or two seven-shot 70mm rocket pods, as well as AIM-9 Sidewinder and AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM), along with LITENING targeting pods. A variety of other fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters are at least capable of firing the rockets at targets on land and at sea.

“U.S. Air Force combat aircraft have leveraged a wide variety of air-to-air munitions to engage Iran-backed Houthi one-way-attack drones, including the APKWS and the AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles,” the AFCENT spokesperson also told TWZ today. “U.S. and Coalition Forces have destroyed over 325 Houthi drones since January 2024, including over 200 in-flight and over 120 on the ground prior to launch.”

CENTCOM’s post today also includes what looks to be the first mention of APKWS II rockets in a FALCO configuration, details about which are scant. TWZ has reached out for more information.

The Air Force has previously disclosed the existence of a Fixed Wing, Air Launched, Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems Ordnance (FALCO) “capability” developed by BAE Systsems, which is also APKWS II’s prime contractor. That FALCO emerged earlier this year in the context of Air Force interest in leveraging it to transform the air-to-ground Extended Range Attack Munition (ERAM), the development of which started primarily to meet the needs of the Ukrainian armed forces, into an air-to-air weapon.

The basic configuration of an APKWS II rocket consists of three main parts, a laser guidance kit slotted in between one of a variety of warhead options and a standard 70mm rocket motor.

In December 2023, the U.S. Navy did say that it was poised to start delivering new proximity-fuzed warheads for APKWS II rockets specifically optimized for counter-drone use. Earlier this year, the Marine Corps also said it was planning to at least test the “feasibility of adding additional guidance methods to the APKWS family, including passive infrared seekers” in cooperation with the U.S. Army and Air Force, but there have been no indications that any such capabilities have actually been fielded with American forces.

The Air Force first announced that it had demonstrated the ability to use APKWS II rockets in the air-to-air role back in 2019. The laser-guided rockets also have proven they can function as surface-to-air interceptors against drones in real combat in Ukraine.

APKWS II does have limitations in the air-to-air role, as TWZ has noted in our previous reporting:

“In an air-to-air engagement, the laser designator in the LITENING pod could be used to ‘laze’ or designate the target. LITENING’s sensor turret can be slaved to the radar on the aircraft carrying it, or vice versa. So-called buddy lasing, where one aircraft designates the target for another, could also be useful in this case, especially given the speed differential between typical Houthi drones and F-16s. One jet could keep the target steadily lazed while the other makes its attack run.”

“APKWS IIs are usable against drones, as well as subsonic cruise missiles, in the first place because those are relatively steady, non-reactionary, low-performance targets. The rockets are not dogfighting weapons.”

Regardless, APKWS II is a valuable lower-cost addition to the U.S. military’s air-to-air arsenal. The unit cost of the APKWS II guidance kit is around $15,000 to $20,000. The price tag of a complete rocket is a few thousand dollars more, depending on the exact warhead and motor. Traditional AIM-9 or AIM-120 air-to-air missiles have price tags in the region of $450,000 and $1 million, respectively. Based on analysis of Iranian-designed long-range kamikaze drones supplied to Russia, Houthi types are likely to have a price range in the tens of thousands of dollars.

“The APKWS provides a lower cost air-to-air munition compared to traditional AIM-9X, offering a more financially sustainable solution to defensive U.S. and Coalition operations in the Red Sea and across the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility,” AFCENT’s spokesperson noted in their statement today to TWZ.

APKWS II in the air-to-air role also presents valuable benefits when it comes to magazine depth. With just a single seven-shot 70mm rocket pod, an F-16 has twice as many total engagement opportunities than it would with a more traditional air-to-air loadout of just six missiles. As already mentioned, Air Force Vipers with two seven-round pods have already been seen flying over and around the Red Sea. Multiple seven-shot pods can also be carried on a single pylon.

Operations against the Houthis since October 2023, as well as the U.S. military’s defense of Israel against Iranian drones and missiles on multiple occasions last year, have underscored the value of the added capacity APKWS II offers in the air-to-air role. While helping respond to Iran’s drone and missile barrage in April 2024, Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles, which have slightly greater air-to-air payload capacity than an F-16, had to land and rearm while threats were still zipping by overhead. One Strike Eagle crew ran out of air-to-air missiles and switched to the jet’s Vulcan cannon, but was unsuccessful in downing anything with the gun.

F-16s based in Japan have been observed with air-to-air loadouts that include APKWS II rockets during exercises, underscoring the value of this capability outside the Middle East, as well.

In the meantime, APKWS looks set to continue proving its worth against the real threats Houthi drones present to U.S. forces, which are surging again amid the recently renewed campaign of strikes against the Iranian-backed militants in Yemen.

Howard Altman contributed to this story.

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