Pentagon orders more fuzes to turn Hydra rockets into drone killers

The Pentagon has ordered another $52.3 million worth of L3Harris proximity fuzes that turn laser-guided APKWS rockets into drone killers, more than doubling the value of a fuze contract signed just four months ago.

The firm-fixed-price modification, announced by the U.S. Department of War, adds to a contract the Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Division awarded L3Harris Fuzing and Ordnance Systems in late May. The work will be done in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is due to be finished by November 2027. The notice does not say how many fuzes the money buys.

A proximity fuze sets off a warhead when it senses a target nearby, so the rocket does not have to hit a small, fast-moving drone directly to destroy it. L3Harris calls the product its Mechanical Proximity Fuze, also known as the FALCO fuze, after the Fixed Wing, Air Launched, Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems Ordnance program. It combines radio-frequency sensor electronics from Technology Service Corporation with an L3Harris safe-and-arm device.

The fuze is fitted to the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System, or APKWS, a BAE Systems guidance kit that turns ordinary 70 mm (2.75-inch) Hydra rockets into laser-guided weapons. The rockets are far cheaper than air-to-air missiles, and a single F-16 carrying six seven-tube launchers can hold 42 of them.

U.S. Air Force F-16s began using proximity-fuzed APKWS rockets to shoot down Houthi one-way attack drones over the Red Sea in 2024. In testing at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, APKWS rockets with the L3Harris fuze destroyed Group 3 drones, the larger class of unmanned aircraft, every time, The Defence Blog reported in May. The same fuze arms rockets fired by L3Harris’ VAMPIRE, a truck-mounted counter-drone launcher that Ukraine has used against Russian drones since 2023.

The original May contract was worth $48.5 million, with options that could raise it to about $98 million and deliveries running through July 2027. L3Harris has said demand is pushing it to increase proximity fuze production sevenfold. Most of the new money, $44.8 million, or 86%, comes from fiscal 2026 Defense-wide operations and maintenance funds. Another $3.8 million comes from fiscal 2025 funds of the same type, which expire at the end of the current fiscal year on Sept. 30, and $3.7 million comes from fiscal 2026 U.S. Army ammunition procurement funds. The notice does not say which units will receive the fuzes.

The Pentagon is also developing a newer air-to-air version of APKWS. In February 2026, the U.S. Air Force awarded BAE Systems a contract worth up to $145 million for an APKWS variant with a long-wave infrared seeker and a proximity-fuzed warhead, which lets the rocket home in on a drone’s heat without a pilot having to keep a laser on the target. That version is planned for U.S. Air Force F-16s and U.S. Navy MH-60 helicopters.