Early September 7th night, russia launched another attack of Shahed-136 explosive suicide drones on Ukraine. They targeted port facilities near Danube in the Odesa Region in the country's south and the Sumy Region in the north. 25 out of 33 drones were destroyed by air defense.
Just a day prior, 35 Shaheds at once attacked Ukrainian port infrastructure in the Danube river area, 25 of them got taken down. Such aggravation calls for looking into new options for neutralizing the threat posed by russian loitering munitions, and one of them involves MiG-29 fighters and APKWS-guided rockets that started coming to Ukraine this spring.
Read more: What Makes Mi-24 the Best Choice For APKWS Guided Rockets Carriers
The idea to combine the two derives from 2019, when the U.S. Air Force F-16C from the 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron, 53rd Wing, successfully destroyed mock targets imitating drones and cruise missiles with APKWS launched from F-16 aircraft instead of a ground-based launcher. The tests were carried out at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, according to The Drive reporting in 2019.
Surely, this experience would be helpful once Ukraine receives F-16, that is, around spring 2024. However, considering how many weapons were already adapted for the use by Ukrainian aircraft – AGM-88 HARM, Storm Shadow/SCALP missiles, JDAM guided bombs… – there is a point to evaluate if the same trick can be done to APKWS to make them usable from Ukrainian MiG-29 fighters.
APKWS has proven to be a flexible weapon. Besides the tests with F-16 which did not require substantial remaking, Americans also applied them from OV-10 Bronco attack aircraft for strikes on ground targets.
It is also very cost-efficient: The Drive authors noted that an AGR-20A guidance unit which turns an unguided Hydra-70 into an APKWS cost only $25,000 in 2019 compared to 1.16-1.3 mln per unit for AIM-120 air-to-air missiles. The current estimated price for AIM-120 is 1.37 mln a missile.
Looking for a way to adjust APKWS for the available Ukrainian aircraft becomes all the more important in the wake of the gradual depletion of Ukraine's arsenals of Soviet-type air weapons.
Read more: Adjusting JDAM-ER to Fit Onto Ukrainian Su-27 Turned Out More Difficult Than Expected
