BAE Systems successfully tested its Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) laser guidance kit with the Australian army’s Forges de Zeebrugge

(FZ) missile, proving the extent of the system’s plug-and-play abilities and opening up a previously untapped market for international sales.

BAE is also working with the Army to fully qualify AKPWS on the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter in time for a fiscal year 2015 limited quantity purchase, which combined with potential foreign military sales could help reduce the unit cost as the Navy negotiates its fourth full-rate production contract.

The Marine Corps launches the APKWS with its Hydra missiles from both the AH-1 Cobras and UH-1 Hueys. The Navy approved an early operational capability to use APKWS from its MH-60 fleet and is working to fully qualify the system, David Harrold, director of precision guidance solutions, told sister publication Defense Daily in an interview at the annual Association of the United States Army conference. Apache approval is next in line, after the Army issued an air worthiness release and is working toward a full materiel release. BAE, with internal funding, has launched the guided rocket system from a dozen different platforms from all four services, including both manned and unmanned and rotary and fixed wing, Harrold said.

Somewhat unexpectedly, Harrold said BAE received a call from Australian army aviation officials over the summer to arrange an APKWS test.

“They had some money at the end of the year, they wanted to bring an APKWS capability into their armed reconnaissance helicopters, the Tiger,” he said. “So they asked us if it was possible to come and do some qualification on that platform.”

Through the U.S. Navy, BAE arranged a series of ground-to-ground tests to see if the APKWS could successfully guide a FZ rocket.

“The important thing about that is that it’s a completely different rocket system,” Harrold said. “So for the first time ever, the real plug-and-play part of this guidance kit was real visible because we were able to use it on a totally different motor, warhead, fuse and launcher. So that’s a significant, significant milestone. It performed perfectly in those ground trials, and we look forward to flight trials later on in November.”

Harrold said the testing, which the Australian army funded, proved that no modifications at all were needed to either the rocket or APKWS. Several other countries use the same FZ rocket system, as well as the Airbus Helicopters Tiger armed reconnaissance helicopter, so if the flight tests go well next month then BAE will begin aggressively pursuing international sales in countries with those products. He could not speak to the timeline or quantity of an Australian buy, saying the details were still being discussed.

With so many foreign militaries also using the Apache, a successful qualification will yield the same opportunities. “All that goes to driving the volume up and driving the price down back to the U.S. government,” Harrold said.

Harrold said he was optimistic they’d make quick progress and added that BAE was willing to do whatever it could to speed up the process.

“In our conversations with the Army, it is their intent to buy some limited quantity of APKWS with their [fiscal year 2015] funding. We’re also on their strategic roadmap–their 30-year strategic roadmap specifically calls out APKWS as their phase 1 for a small guided munitions, so we feel very confident about that. The other thing that we’re doing is continuing to invest company funds and assets to help this qualification process along. So the Army is working urgently on that because I think they have expressed to us they want to get it fielded on Apache as soon as possible, and so we’re doing whatever we can to help lean forward and to help accelerate that timeline.”

Harrold said he could not detail what tests were still needed to achieve full qualification, but he said several had already been planned to take place in the next few months.

BAE and its supply chain are ready for an increase in production rates if the Army contract and foreign contracts fall into place this year. The team currently produces about 1,500 a year for the Navy, and “we could just about triple that volume with no kinds of changes to our production floor, just adding another shift,” Harrold said. The company has also looked at how to expand its Nashua, N.H., factory for even higher production rates, he added.

Joe Tiano, program manager for precision guidance solutions, said in the same interview that there are some small businesses in the supply chain but most are mature companies that could increase production quickly. For those that cannot, BAE is already looking into what investments in infrastructure and capital equipment it might make on behalf of its suppliers to move forward.

The current full-rate production contract with the Navy lasts through September 2015, and the next contract, FRP 4, would be for a similar quantity. Tiano said he expects the contract to be signed by the end of the year. The product delivered in FRP 4 would be identical to the current APKWS, but BAE has a parallel effort to update and enhance the product where it makes sense to avoid parts obsolescence or to reduce costs.