Hydra, Awakened: Guided Air-Ground Rockets
Feb 19, 2013 15:57 UTC by Defense Industry Daily staff
Roketsan’s Cirit is intended to have a range of 8 km, with a reduced-smoke motor, and a tri-mode fragmentation/ HEAT/ incendiary warhead. It’s intended to fire from M- and LAU- launchers, as well as a MIL-STD-1760 launcher developed by Roketsan.
Feb 19/13: UAE. At IDEX 2013, the UAE announces an AED 720 million (about $196 milion) deal with Tawazun to supply laser-guided rockets to the UAE military, through a partnership with Roketsan.
That’s a very curious announcement. As noted below, the UAE already has its own Talon laser-guided rocket, developed by the local firm EAI in collaboration with Raytheon. UAE The National.
July 10/12: Hurriyet says deliveries have begun:
“Turkey’s missile maker Roketsan has delivered 100 laser-guided 70 mm rocket systems to the Turkish military, a defense source has told the Hürriyet Daily News.”
Sen. Leahy’s [D-VT] worked in the mid-2000s to keep the Hydra 70mm rocket family alive through special appropriations, just in time for the Hydras’ potential on the battlefield to rise again. The key was the addition of low-cost precision guidance, which would expand the number of precision weapons carried by helicopters, aircraft, and even UAVs.
Over the last few years, the US Army’s 2nd attempt at an APKWS 70mm guided rocket had a near-death experience, before righting the program with Navy funding. Meanwhile, private development efforts from Lockheed Martin, Thales TDA, and a raft of international partnerships involving major defense firms and partners in Korea, the UAE, Canada/Norway, and Israel are introducing new competitors into the precision-guided rocket space. This DID FOCUS article covers the most prominent competitors within the guided rocket trend. Their products will sit between full anti-armor missiles like Hellfire, TOW, and Brimstone, and an emerging class of ultra-small precision attack weapons like Northrop Grumman’s Viper Strike, Raytheon’s Griffin, etc.
APKWS II: “To be, or not to be…”
Lockheed Martin: Is this a DAGR I see before me…?
LOGIR: “…the heavenly-harnessed team/ Begins his golden progress in the east…”
Raytheon and the UAE’s TALON: “Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie…”
Other Entries: “Come unto these yellow sands…”
Turkey: Roketsan’s CIRIT
CRV7-PG
GATR-L (Guided Advanced Tactical Rocket – Laser).
SYROCOT (Systeme de Roquette A Corrections de Trajectoire)
Ugroza/Kor.
Bigger Boom: 127mm Zuni rocket options
Additional Readings & Sources
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