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Swedish concern Saab plans to use the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) as a cheaper weapon option for its JAS 39 Gripen fighters, company executives said in a statement.
Main theses:
- Saab uses the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) as a low-cost weapon option for its Gripen fighters.
- Creating systems that can carry multiple munitions to more effectively combat drones at a cheaper level.
- The use of cheap missiles will reduce the costs of combating drones compared to traditional combat systems.
APWKS systems will be used in Gripen aircraft
“The APKWS is of interest because other platforms are now integrating 70mm guided missiles. So we are certainly looking at that opportunity now,” Saab's airspace operations advisor Jussi Halmetoya told reporters at the Singapore Air Show.
According to him, the concern is looking for ways to integrate this weapons system, which uses a guided version of the 70 mm Hydra missile, into its older Gripen C fighters and the newest Gripen E model. Halmetoja shared that together with Gripen program marketing director Mikael Franzen, they discussed the company's conclusions from the war in Ukraine that cheaper weapons are needed to counter drones.
I mean, we're currently using very expensive weapons to destroy very cheap drones.
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He noted that Saab hopes to equip Gripen with systems that can carry multiple munitions on a single payload.
If each pod could carry four or ten munitions, many more drones could be destroyed.
The publication recalled that APWKS systems are already present in various weapons used in Ukraine. For example, the VAMPIRE anti-drone systems are equipped with a four-barrel Hydra guided missile launcher that can be mounted on a pickup truck.
Journalists said that the cost of using one APKWS projectile is estimated at $20,000-35,000, while the cost of weapons more typical of modern fighters, such as the AIM-9 Sidewinder, is approximately $450,000, and the AIM-120 AMRAAM is approximately $1 million.
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