F-15E Spotted Packing Big Laser-Guided Rocket Arsenal Ideal For Drone Hunting
A picture has emerged showing a U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle loaded with at least three seven-shot 70mm rocket pods under its left wing. If the jet had three more pods on the right side, this would amount to a whopping 42 rockets, which could be carried together with eight traditional air-to-air missiles. Such a loadout would turn the F-15E in a flying counter-drone and cruise missile arsenal ship capable of an incredible 50 engagement opportunities, minus the gun.
The Air Force has already proven the extreme value of laser-guided 70mm Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) rockets in the air-to-air role in combat on the F-16, news TWZ first broke earlier this year and has continued to follow very closely. Integrating APKWS II into the F-15E's arsenal isn't surprising, especially considering how active these aircraft have been in countering lower-performing aerial threats.
The picture of the rocket-armed F-15E, seen below, first appeared on social media accounts for The Merge, a military aviation podcast and associated newsletter, yesterday. 'An Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle testing laser-guided rockets was spotted with a 6-pod 42-rocket loadout in flight test,' The Merge wrote in an accompanying post on Instagram.
That's a beast-mode-for-drones loadout. pic.twitter.com/YdNRHgkwzP
— The Merge
(@MergeNewsletter) May 22, 2025
Though The Merge says the aircraft was carrying six rocket pods at the time, only three are clearly visible in the image on the jet's left underwing pylon, but a symmetric load makes perfect sense. Pods full of laser-guided APKWS II rockets are relatively easy to spot since the weapons are longer than unguided 70mm types and their noses protrude noticeably from the front as a result. As it exists now, APKWS II consists primarily of a laser guidance section sandwiched between one of a variety of warhead types and a standard 70mm rocket motor.
In addition to the rocket pods, the Strike Eagle has an inert AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) without control fins and a flight test data pod under its left wing. An AN/AAQ-33 Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod (ATP) and an AN/AAQ-13 navigation pod (which incorporates a forward-looking infrared sensor and a terrain-following radar) are seen loaded on the stations under the jet's left and right air intakes, respectively.
The F-15E seen in the picture also has an 'ET' tail code, reflecting an aircraft assigned to the 96th Test Wing headquartered at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.
'I can confirm the pic was taken here at Eglin AFB,' Gabriel Myers, a spokesperson for the 96th Test Wing, told TWZ when asked for more information about the image of the rocket-toting F-15E. 'The Eglin AFB test community through strong partnerships have aggressively conducted integrated test of the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System. By working at speed to ensure advanced capabilities have the intended effects, we increase warfighter readiness and lethality to meet the global demands of the joint force.'
When the F-15E might be cleared to operationally employ APKWS II rockets is unclear.
'Unfortunately, we can't speak to specific timelines [for the test work], but we can say it was done rapidly,' Myers continued.
In U.S. service, on the fixed-wing side, the precision-guided rockets have been integrated onto Marine Corps AV-8B Harriers and F/A-18C/D Hornets and U.S. Air Force F-16C/D Vipers and A-10 Warthogs. Marine AH-1Z Viper and UH-1Y Venom helicopters, as well as U.S. Navy MH-60R/S Seahawks and U.S. Army AH-64D/E Apaches, can also employ APKWS II.
A full air-to-air loadout for the F-15E currently consists of eight missiles. Four missiles – either short-range AIM-9 Sidewinders or AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) – can be loaded on launch rails on either side of the Strike Eagle's two underwing pylons. Two more AIM-120s can be carried on pylons on each of the conformal fuel tanks (CFT) attached to the sides of the fuselage. The jets can also carry a wide array of air-to-ground munitions and other stores on the pylons under their wings, on the CFTs, and on their ventral centerline hardpoint.
Adding APKWS II to the F-15E's already very expansive arsenal would give the jet an additional lower-cost tool for precisely engaging a variety of ground targets, as well. These can include light armored vehicles. As the newly emerged picture highlights in showing 21 engagement opportunities on a single pylon, the laser-guided rockets offer significant benefits when it comes to magazine depth.
But it's the Strike Eagle and APKWS II combo's potential in the air-to-air role that is perhaps most exciting. As we noted earlier, Air Force F-16s first began employing the laser-guided rockets in an anti-air optimized configuration to shoot down Houthi drones during operations over and around the Red Sea last year, which TWZ was first to report. The Air Force had announced back in 2019 that it had demonstrated APKWS II's ability to be used as an air-to-air weapon in a test wherein an F-16 downed a surrogate for a subsonic cruise missile, something we were also first to report on. APKWS II is also combat-proven in the surface-to-air role against drones, as well as in air-ground modes and surface-to-surface modes.
U.S. Fighter aircraft shoot down Iran-backed Houthi one-way-attack drones with AGR-20 FALCO Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) Laser Guided 2.75" Rockets.#HouthisAreTerrorists pic.twitter.com/bDoVnKwotc
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 19, 2025
Since January, F-16s have been observed flying the Middle East carrying air-to-air loadouts that include one or two seven-shot 70mm rocket pods, as well as traditional air-to-air missiles and LITENING targeting pods. This had already underscored the magazine depth benefits of APKWS II. A typical air-to-air for the Viper consists of six air-to-air missiles. Just having a pair of rocket pods on one pylon effectively triples the number of anti-air engagement opportunities per sortie. The F-15E with six seven-shot rocket pods, along with eight air-to-air missiles, goes far beyond that capacity.
APKWS II is also a significantly lower-cost anti-air weapon than traditional air-to-air missiles in U.S. military inventory today. The APKWS II guidance kit, which is the most expensive part of the munition, has a unit cost of around $15,000 to $20,000. The warhead and motor add a few thousand dollars more to the total unit price. Current generation AIM-9X Sidewinders each cost in the region of $450,000, while the latest AIM-120 variants are $1 million or more apiece.
Even with the air-to-air specific upgrades developed for APKWS II, it does still has limitations when employed against aerial threats, as TWZ has noted in the past in the context of F-16 counter-drone missions:
'In an air-to-air engagement, the laser designator in the LITENING pod could be used to 'laze' or designate the target. LITENING's sensor turret can be slaved to the radar on the aircraft carrying it, or vice versa. So-called buddy lasing, where one aircraft designates the target for another, could also be useful in this case, especially given the speed differential between typical Houthi drones and F-16s. One jet could keep the target steadily lazed while the other makes its attack run.'
'APKWS IIs are usable against drones, as well as subsonic cruise missiles, in the first place because those are relatively steady, non-reactionary, low-performance targets. The rockets are not dogfighting weapons.'
BAE Systems, the prime contractor for the APKWS II, is now developing a dual-mode guidance package that adds a passive infrared seeker to give the rocket a quasi-fire-and-forget capability. A laser designator would still be needed to provide initial cueing, but the launch platform would be able to move much more rapidly from engaging one target to the next with the addition of the infrared guidance mode, as you can read more about here.
Pairing F-15E with APKWS II, even just with the guided rocket's existing capabilities, would offer additional advantages in the air-to-air role given the range and endurance of the Strike Eagle, as well as its substantial overall payload capacity. The F-15E is also a two-seat aircraft, which allows the pilot to remain fully focused on flying the aircraft while the back-seater handles targeting duties.
Together with aerial refueling support, an F-15E armed with APKWS II rockets and traditional air-to-air missiles could provide a far more persistent counter-air screen with a huge magazine depth against drones and some cruise missile types. This kind of general scenario is what Air Force Strike Eagle crews found themselves in on multiple occasions while defending Israel from Iranian attacks last year, during which, running out of missiles became the limiting factor.
Specifically, while responding to Iran's drone and missile attacks on Israel in April 2024, F-15Es had to land to rearm while threats were still flying overhead. At least one Strike Eagle crew switched to their aircraft's 20mm M61 Vulcan cannon after running out of missiles, but was unable to shoot anything down.
'The drone war is kind of like a video game. You just gotta get the jets up in the air and position them correctly for an intercept. The radar will easily see them after they're launched and then it's just how many missiles you have versus how many drones are launched. The technical aspect of detecting them and downing them is easy,' Daren 'Shotgun' Sorenson, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who flew F-15Es, told TWZ in an interview last summer. 'It's easy work. You can do it all day long until you run out of missiles.'
The Air Force also recently sent a detachment of F-15Es to the highly strategic island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, explicitly to provide force protection for forces currently there, including B-52 bombers, a deployment TWZ was first to report. This only further underscores the key role Strike Eagles are already playing in shielding high-value assets, especially from drones and cruise missiles.
All of this also applies at least equally, if not more so, to the Air Force's incoming F-15EX Eagle II aircraft. The F-15EX is the latest and most capable variant to emerge in the extended Strike Eagle family, and is expected to be used primarily in the homeland air defense role in U.S. service, at least initially. Last year, TWZ laid out in detail how the Strike Eagle's performance in the anti-air role in the Middle East had bolstered the case for the EX in U.S. and Israeli service. Indonesia also plans to buy F-15s derived from the EX variant, and other foreign customers, including Poland, could be on the horizon.
'The proliferation of one-way attack drones is driving a massive demand signal for counter-UAS capabilities,' The Merge also told TWZ directly when asked about the picture of the rocket-armed Strike Eagle. 'The cost exchange afforded by APKWS rockets–and the flexibility and magazine depth by putting them on the F-15E/X–should make a meaningful difference.'
Adding APKWS II to the F-15E's arsenal, especially for air-to-air use, could be a factor in ongoing debates about the future of the Air Force's Strike Eagles, as well. Congress recently blocked the service, at least until 2027, from pursuing plans to retire more than half of the heavily in-demand Strike Eagle fleet.
It would also not be surprising at all to see APKWS II join already growing air-to-air loadouts available to U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornets. A year ago, Houthi drone threats in and around the Red Sea had already prompted that service to launch a crash program to increase the number of AIM-9Xs a Super Hornet could carry on a single sortie. The Navy has since officially dubbed F/A-18E/Fs armed with five AIM-120s and four AIM-9Xs as 'Murder Hornets.'
Regardless of the threat of partial retirement, many F-15Es remain in Air Force service in the coming years, there are clear signs the jets are now in line to get an important firepower boost, including when it comes to shooting down drones, in the form of APKWS II.
Howard Altman and Tyler Rogoway contributed to this story.
Special thanks to The Merge for sharing the picture of the rocket-armed F-15E and additional information.
Contact the author: joe@twz.com
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He did, however, note a goal of offering 80-percent of the capability of the NGAD crewed fighter capability at just half the cost. Yesterday, Taiclet reiterated the 80 percent/50 percent target, which remains highly ambitious. 'That's a set of targets that we're going after as a company,' he said. 'We're recommending consideration of some of those ideas to the U.S. government right now.' Absent from Taiclet's conversation yesterday was the so-called F-55, a purported development of the F-35 that U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned while talking to the press earlier this month. Trump described the F-55 as a twin-engined F-35 and also discussed an 'F-22 Super' that would be an upgraded version of the Raptor. At yesterday's Strategic Decisions Conference, Lockheed Martin's Taiclet did say that a similarly ambitious upgrade effort to the one described for the F-35 could be applied to the F-22. The F-22 fleet is already set to receive a number of important upgrades in the coming years, including a new Infrared Defensive System (IRDS), additional sensor improvements, and stealthy drop tanks. Work to modernize the Raptors had already been feeding into the NGAD program. It's also worth noting that President Trump had raised the prospect of an F-55 while on a trip to the Persian Gulf region, raising the question about whether it might have been tied to interest from the countries in the region. Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Saudi Arabian officials had again met with their American counterparts about the possibility of purchasing F-35s. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar have reportedly sought to buy Joint Strike Fighters in the past, as well. Concerns about the erosion of Israel's so-called 'qualitative military edge' and operational security issues are reported to have hampered progress on such sales in the past. The Israeli Air Force is currently the only F-35 operator in the Middle East. It's also interesting to note here that Qatar and Saudi Arabia both played significant roles in Boeing's development of versions of the Advanced Eagle, which the U.S. Air Force is now benefiting from with its F-15EX Eagle II. Now, 'in air superiority, there's a discussion about a path to fifth generation in Saudi Arabia,' Taiclet said yesterday. 'There'll be multiple steps in that. It could take some time, but I think if we can work with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE on really bolstering their air superiority capabilities and their integrated air and defense capabilities … there will be really significant opportunity for the company along those lines, and a few others too.' It's not entirely clear from Taiclet's remarks here if he means there might also be a pathway emerging for potential 'fifth-generation' fighter sales to Qatar and the UAE, as well as Saudi Arabia. New 'air superiority capabilities and their integrated air and defense capabilities' could include sales of advanced F-16s, which are already heading to the region for the Royal Bahraini Air Force, as well as ground-based air and missile defense systems that Lockheed Martin produces. Lockheed Martin has already found significant export opportunities in the Middle East for its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) ballistic missile defense system and the PAC-3 series of interceptors for the Patriot surface-to-air missile system. Taiclet also talked about the potential for F-35 sales to India and re-raised the possibility of selling that country a particularly advanced F-16 derivative called the F-21. Though hard details remain elusive, the Indian Air Force looks to have lost at least some number of fourth-generation fighters in the course of a brief, but intense conflict with Pakistan earlier this month that also put the spotlight on Chinese fighter exports. 'I think the F-16 also has strong legs, if you will, and more [and] increasing interest as we go forward from a number of countries that aren't quite ready for F-35,' Taiclet said. There are 'some countries that could see F-21 or F-16, for India, for example, as a stepping stone to F-35.' 'We've already started with the wing section. So, F-16 wings are co-produced in India for export to other nations,' the Lockheed Martin CEO added. 'We've made commitments to literally the highest level of the Indian government, that should they choose F-21, which is the modernized version of the F-16, that we would initiate production as feasible in India for final assembly of the aircraft, as well as the wings.' Circling back to the F-35, in general, Taiclet also talked yesterday about the ongoing issues with that program. Work on the aforementioned Block 4 package, and the Technology Refresh 3 (TR-3) improvements that the jets have to receive first, continues to face delays. Taiclet blamed issues tied to an upgrade to the Distributed Aperture System (DAS), which is one part of Block 4, as being a major factor. You can read more about the existing DAS, and the threat warning and general situational awareness capabilities it offers, here. 'TR-3 is a technology refreshment, a technology upgrade, from the prior F-35 core processor, which is basically the onboard server computer; a data storage unit, which is much more robust and can hold and process a lot more information; and then a pilot display generator that is the next generation, is more sophisticated, more capable,' Taiclet explained. Then there is 'a software package, or firmware package, really, that integrates the core processor server, the data storage unit and the display, display generator, into the aircraft itself.' 'The hardware is complete. It's being produced at scale at L3Harris. The software integration with the aircraft is also complete, and so TR-3 has met its completion milestones. What's going on now is that aircraft are being run through the factory with TR-3, plus the first hardware component, or one of the initial hardware components, of the Block 4 upgrade to the aircraft hardware,' he continued. 'That piece of equipment is called a Distributed Aperture System, which is six apertures or antennas located around the aircraft that provide lots of sensing capabilities.' 'The holdup now is that the sensor set — a new piece of hardware and its own software and its own firmware — has to now integrate with the TR-3 aircraft, and that is a little bit behind schedule,' he added. 'Once that catches up, we think by the end of this year, then all those aircraft that have been delivered will be combat-capable.' The ongoing struggles with Block 4 and TR-3 do raise further questions about the fifth-generation-plus F-35 proposal, which involves relatively drastic changes to the aircraft beyond what is being worked on now, as well as the 80 percent/50 percent claim. There are also ongoing supply chain and other sustainment problems that present serious cost growth concerns for current and future operators, something TWZ has explored in detail in the past. 'Our first priority is the health of the F-35 program. What we suggested is longer-term production and sustainment agreements … where we could stabilize the supply chain, get some costs down, and make sure that we can deliver on time and on schedule more reliably,' according to Taiclet. It remains to be seen whether a fifth-generation-plus variant or derivative of the F-35 ultimately materializes. At the same time, Lockheed Martin at least working toward that end could provide the U.S. military a hedge against delays or other issues in the continued development of the F-47. The future outlook for the U.S. Navy's F/A-XX next-generation stealth fighter is currently murky, as well. The F-35 presents is an in-production design that can be leveraged, potentially even just in name. As a comparative example, the Navy first fielded the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, a significantly different aircraft from preceding F/A-18 Hornet variants, after the cancellation of far more advanced, expensive, and entirely new designs. Regardless, Lockheed Martin looks committed to seeing how far it can push the bounds of the design, including possibly removing the pilot from the equation, as it pursues new export opportunities. Contact the author: thomas@
