Secret weapon in American deliveries to Ukraine. What is the riddle?
Just yesterday, the Pentagon announced that it had sent the latest secret weapons designed specifically for Ukraine.
The list of new arms supplies for Ukraine published today has baffled many experts. because it has Laser-guided rocket systems.
Laser-guided rocket systems are laser-guided long-range airborne weapons, but there is an important caveat. Usually guided long-range aircraft weapons in American military terminology are called missiles. And the unmanaged one is called rockets.
It turns out some snag, on the one hand, "Laser-guided" is a laser-guided rocket, on the other hand, "rocket systems" is an unguided rocket.
There is one exception - the AGR-20 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) (what a name!)
The AGR-20 APKWS is a conversion of the US 70mm Hydra 70 unguided rocket that turns it into a laser-guided guided missile. And here it becomes clear why the United States is transferring the RQ-20 Puma UAV to Ukraine. The fact is that Puma is equipped with a Mantis i45 electron-optical system with a laser illuminator. Puzzle completed!
Hydra 70 missiles have a fairly large range of engines and warheads, depending on the platform of use and purpose. High-explosive fragmentation, cumulative, anti-personnel, phosphorus, cluster, etc.
There is only one "but". AGR-20 APKWS is used mainly from aircraft and helicopters. But… In 2020, BAE Systems tested APKWS from ground platforms!
Unfortunately, the missiles are designed to bypass Russian electronic warfare (remember, designed specifically for Ukraine!)
Thank you for preparing the material military-expert analysts.
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