NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – The Navy and BAE Systems
, contractor for the Advanced Precision Kill Weapons System (APKWS) II, will soon hammer out whether to field two variants of the laser guided missile—one for fixed wing aircraft and one for rotary wing aircraft—or one that can work on both, according to the program’s manager.
Program Manager for PMA-242 Navy Capt. Brian Corey told reporters here Tuesday at the Sea Air Space convention that upcoming tests on an A-10 Warthog and an AV-8 Harrier would provide the data for that business decision.
“‘Do we go forward with a single APKWS that works on a jet aircraft and a helicopter or do we keep two variants,” Corey said. “The answer to that question, how much it costs, we hope to get to in a matter of months.
BAE Director of Precision Guidance Solutions David Harrold said having one design that can be run through one single manufacturing line using one design team is important from a business perspective.
“But, as the captain said, we have to sit down and sort of walk through the cost benefit of going to one design,” Harrold said.
In a follow-up interview with Defense Daily, Harrold said because the fixed wing variant is fired from a higher speed compared to the rotary speed variant they are not sure if they will be able to engineer one variant for both aircraft.
The Air Force said last week it successfully fired an APKWS II from a fixed wing aircraft for the first time, launching it from an A-10. Before the A-10 test, the APKWS II had proved effective in combat operations when fired from Marine helicopters, according to the Air Force.
Corey said BAE had to tweak APKWS II for each airborne platform: The helicopter variant had a lot of vibration but not many hot/cold temperature cycles while the fixed wing variant had lots of temperature cycles with different vibrations and more Gs.
“We had to design both to be ready in the future,” Corey said.
Corey said APKWS II costs a little less than $28,000 per round.
The Navy intends to award a sole source follow-on contract to BAE for full rate production (FRP) of APKWS II, according to an April 2 notice posted on Federal Business Opportunities. The contract will be firm-fixed-price for: APKWS II guidance section base quantity of 1,601 with a total possible procurement of 7,704; Navy Shipping and Storage Container (NSSC) CNU-711; technical and training manual updates and support equipment and support test equipment for FRP.
Moving the original APKWS to a fixed-wing aircraft began as an urgent operational need project for the Navy and Air Force in 2009, according to the Air Force. The tasking, called a joint concept technology demonstration (JCTD), was to take the rotary-wing version of the rocket and modify it for fast moving aircraft. The goal for the Air Force was to demonstrate it on the A-10 and the F-16, if possible, APKWS Program Manager Joe Stromsness said in an April 3 Air Force statement.
More Air Force testing and assessment will take place this year, according to the service. The Navy successfully fired two APKWSs from an AV-8B aircraft March 27. Once testing is complete, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) will submit a final report and endorsement to the Air Force and Navy program offices. Stromness said APKWS could be ready for operational use by 2015.