Will Cheap Laser-Guided Rockets Give F-16 Fighters An Affordable Weapon to Kill Drone Swarms and Cr

[rangerrebew]

January 18, 2020

Will Cheap Laser-Guided Rockets Give F-16 Fighters An Affordable Weapon to Kill Drone Swarms and Cruise Missiles?

You can't kill the 'falcon'.
by Sebastien Roblin

On December 19, 2019 an F-16 Fighting Falcon single-engine jet fighter from the 85th Test & Evaluation Squadron used a single laser-guided rocket (see video here) to down a BQM-167 Skeeter drone over the Gulf of Mexico.

The Skeeter conveniently emulates the profile and performance of a subsonic land-attack cruise missile.A companion article looks at how F-16s are being upgraded with new AN/APG-83 radars that will greatly enhance their effectiveness against small, low-flying targets like cruise missiles and drones.

The venerable F-16 has well-deserved reputation as an affordable higher-performance jet that is due to serve into the mid- century.  The new rocket test stays true to the F-16’s low-cost concept by exploring a vastly cheaper way to precisely blast small missiles and drones out of the sky.

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/will-cheap-laser-guided-rockets-give-f-16-fighters-affordable-weapon-kill-drone-swarms-and

[PeteS in CA]

The F-15, F-16, and F-18 have been very upgradable aircraft, no doubt by design. Drones are inexpensive, relatively, and the response needs to be similarly inexpensive or else defending against drone would quickly become prohibitive expensive and deplete inventories of missiles needed for bigger threats.