The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) awarded BAE Systems a $225 million delivery order against a previous contract to procure 9,999 additional Lot 7 full-rate production Advanced precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) II units.
APKWS modifies existing standard 2.75-inch rockets into precision weapons by installing a guidance kit between the unguided rocket engine and the warhead.
The Navy said this procurement will upgrade the 2.75-inch rockets “to a semi-active laser guided precision weapon” to be used by the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force as well as by the Netherlands and Nigeria.
“We’ve created a low-cost solution that transforms an unguided rocket into a laser-guided rocket with highly reliable precision-strike capabilities, and we’ve demonstrated that we can ramp up production and deliver this capability to the customer on time and at scale,” Marc Casseres, BAE’s director of precision guidance and sensing solutions, told Defense Daily in an email.
Casseres also noted their “robust supply chain, advanced manufacturing capabilities, and infrastructure investments have enabled us to meet increasing global demand.”
The work will occur in Hudson, N.H. (70 percent) and Austin, Texas (30 percent) and is expected to be finished by September 2020.
The full contract value is obligated at award time, coming from FY 2019 ammunition procurement funds for the services and Foreign Military Sales but will expire at the end of this fiscal year.
Previously, BAE won a $175 million contract for 7,000 APKWS rockets in May, but could not disclose their end destinations (Defense Daily, May 8, 2018).