US expands APKWS laser-guided rocket kit production for counter-drone use

The Pentagon signed a framework agreement with BAE to procure up to 25,000 APKWS guidance kits per year (with a path to 35,000 for allies), scaling a low-cost precision rocket that has been used as an economical alternative to air-to-air missiles for shooting down drones. The novelty is less the kit itself (already fielded) and more the industrial-scale ramp and formalization of APKWS as a mass counter-UAS interceptor inventory.