“The higher the fence, the better the jumpers” is a metaphor that describes the ingenuity that people develop when faced with overwhelming difficulties. The truth of the above phrase is also applicable in the field of war, with them adapting to the reality imposed on them by the confrontation with .
Weapons and weapons
The latest news concerns the sale of weapons systems by the US to Israel, the UAE, Kuwait and Qatar, in an acquisition whose benefit to Washington is estimated at $8.6 billion.
According to an official announcement by the US Department of State, four billion of these relate to the sale of Patriot missiles to Qatar and 2.5 billion to the acquisition of the Integrated Battle Command System (IBCS) air defense system. The remaining 2.1 billion is related to a mass-produced weapon kit that uses laser guidance to convert common rockets into precision munitions capable of destroying enemy targets, including unmanned aerial vehicles ().
The name of the specific weapon system is Advanced Precision Kill Weapon Systems (APKWS) and in essence these are small missiles with a diameter of 70 millimeters and a weight of about 15 kilograms, which contain four different fins that carry sensors capable of interacting through a beam of laser light, thus “locking” the missile with great precision against the target. As part of the aforementioned agreement, Israel and Qatar procured 10,000 units, while the UAE procured 1,500. However, the British manufacturer BAE Systems estimates that it can produce 20,000 units per year, while so far it has delivered 100,000 to the Ministry of Defense.
From Korea to the Gulf
It is not a completely new weapon, since as mentioned on the ammunition specialist website Collective Awareness to Unexploded Ordnance (CAT-UXO), it is an evolution of the FFAR Mk 4 missile used in the Korean War (1950-53), and went down in history with the nickname Mighty Mouse, due to the beneficial ratio between size and efficiency. In that version, this type of missile was also widely used in the Vietnam War, where according to government records the Air Force used 6.2 million of them. Its current version is called the Hydra-70 and can be launched from aircraft, helicopters and mobile ground units, while its radius of action extends between 1.5 and 5 kilometers. It should be noted that the adequacy of the system was tested for the first time by the Navy in 2011 at the level of exercises, while in 2025 the US Air Force successfully used it against Houthi drones in Yemen.
U.S. Fighter aircraft shoot down Iran-backed Houthi one-way-attack drones with AGR-20 FALCO Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) Laser Guided 2.75″ Rockets.
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM)
The noticeable difference with today, however, lies not only in the improvements brought about by technological progress, nor in the mass scale of production. The big advantage of this particular system is its cost, which per unit is estimated at only 40,000 dollars. Given that the Iranian-made Shahed-136 drone, which has become a painful headache for the US and the Gulf monarchies, costs between $20,000 and $50,000, it is easy to conclude that the Pentagon is slowly getting inventive, “pulling out of the drawer” cheaper alternatives, without losing in terms of operational success in field. “The large cost difference in using a million-dollar missile to shoot down a $25,000 drone led the Pentagon to come up with a less expensive alternative,” John Ismay said at the Pentagon.
It is recalled that in the background of the war launched by the US-Israeli coalition against Iran on February 28, drones played a decisive role in Tehran’s counterattack, testing the operational and economic endurance of the attackers and the Gulf monarchies allied to Washington. For example, a Patriot interceptor missile, , costs four million dollars, an amount equivalent to 80-115 drones. The cost per interceptor missile of the THAAD system is estimated at 13 to 15.5 million dollars, an amount equivalent to 310-440 drones. Influenced by Iranian tactics, the US has turned its attention to less expensive solutions, from the SpektreWorks company’s LUCAS drones to Fortem’s DroneHunter F700 and Raytheon’s Coyote, whose costs range from $35,000 to $100,000.
