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An AV-8B Harrier takes off aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) and test fires the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS), a laser-guided rocket, for the first time in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.
The Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) also known as Laser, infrared Guided Rocket (LiGR) is a design conversion of Hydra 70 unguided rockets with a laser guidance kit to turn them into precision-guided munitions (PGMs). APKWS is approximately one-third the cost and one-third the weight of the current inventory of laser-guided weapons, has a lower yield more suitable for avoiding collateral damage, and takes one quarter of the time for ordnance personnel to load and unload. As of October 2015, BAE Systems had manufactured 5,000 APKWS units.