Counter-UAS with 70 mm rockets: Belgian F-16s test the FZ275 LGR, which the Bundesheer is also receiving

The Belgian Luchtmacht (air force) has successfully tested the 70-millimetre FZ275 LGR rocket from Thales Belgium near Lombardsijde in West Flanders on the North Sea coast – for counter-UAS use against medium-sized attack drones. The results are also of considerable significance for the Austrian Armed Forces (Bundesheer): the FZ275 LGR will arm its Leonardo AW169MA multi-role helicopter and Leonardo M-346FA jet trainer, expanding their operational options in national defence.

Since the beginning of the year, the air force, army and navy of the Belgian armed forces have been jointly testing the 70-millimetre rocket on Belgian F-16AMs with LAU-131A/A multiple rocket launchers. The aim is to engage low-cost combat drones.

De Luchtmacht testte in Lombardsijde een capaciteit tegen middelgrote aanvalsdrones. In samenwerking met de Landmacht, de Marine en Thales Belgium: FZ275‑raketten van 70 mm zonder lading op #F16, als efficiënte en betaalbare oplossing tegen de UAS‑dreiging pic.twitter.com/So7Afwy3XK— Belgian Defence (@BelgiumDefence) April 30, 2026

A look back

From 1943, several fighter and heavy fighter wings of the German Luftwaffe fire the 21-centimetre rockets of the Panzerwerfer 42 self-propelled multiple rocket launcher, designated Bordrakete 21, into Allied bomber formations from a distance of around 1,200 metres.

Towards the end of the 1940s, the US Navy Naval Ordnance Test Center derives from this the 70 millimetre/2.75 in Mk 4 Folding-Fin Aerial Rocket (FFAR) Mighty Mouse. This rocket is intended to engage air and ground targets from up to seven kilometres away. However, because large bombers are rapidly becoming faster, its successor, the 70-millimetre Hydra-70 rocket, is intended only for the air-to-ground role.

Aircraft and helicopters no longer drop bombs while overflying, but fire entire clouds of rockets at ground targets from up to 10 kilometres away. Ground crews benefit too: when rearming on the ground, the rockets, weighing around 12 kilograms, are much easier to handle than bombs weighing from 110 kilograms up to 907 kilograms.

From guided rocket to drone hunter

Around the mid-2010s, BAE Systems works on laser guidance for the Hydra-70 and tests it. The warhead and rocket motor are screwed together for use, with a guidance section now sitting between them. The previously unguided rocket thus becomes the AGR-20A Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) guided weapon – initially against ground targets.

At a US Air Force weapons and tactics conference in January 2019, the idea emerges of also using the weapon against air targets. At the end of 2019, the 85th Flight Test Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida begins testing. On 12 December 2019, Major Jeffrey Entine, a test pilot with the 85th Flight Test Squadron, successfully hits a target drone simulating a cruise missile from an F-16C (see video below).

In 2024 and 2025, APKWS rockets prove themselves in large numbers against swarm attacks by drones launched towards Israel from Iran and by Houthi rebels from Yemen.

The rockets are suitable for counter-UAS use (counter-unmanned aircraft systems, C-UAS), provided the pilots follow a few principles. The 70-millimetre rockets were not designed as air-to-air missiles and lack agility. But a pilot who gets behind non-manoeuvring cruise missiles and long-range kamikaze drones gives the rockets a target they can hit. The same applies to ground targets: vehicles moving across the line of fire can still be hit at speeds of up to 50 to 60 km/h.

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

The guided 70-millimetre rockets thus fill the gap between highly effective, expensive long-range missiles on the one hand and shorter-range guns and unguided rockets on the other. This enables a broad spectrum of precise effects against targets in the air, on the ground and at sea from a single platform.

European options

On this side of the Atlantic, there are further options besides BAE Systems' APKWS, which is being tested on the Eurofighter, among other platforms.

The British company Thales Air Defence Limited, for example, has developed the Martlet, also known as the Lightweight Multirole Missile (LMM, see video below). In the C-UAS role, it is to be used in future on the Dassault Rafale (-> Austria is looking for a Eurofighter successor – the Rafale is also an option).

What Thales Belgium offers

With the FZ275 LGR, Thales Belgium also has a product of this kind in its range. In November 2024, the company signed a cooperation agreement with a defence company from Ukraine. The rockets are intended to engage unmanned aircraft of NATO Classes II and III, above all long-range attack drones such as the Shahed and Geran-2. So far, they have been fired from “NATO-compatible” launchers for 70-millimetre rockets of the Vampire type from L3 Harris, which serve as a short-range air defence missile system. In 2026, Thales Belgium plans to produce a total of 10,000 of these rockets.

From the Belgian tests with the F-16AM it can be concluded that these are trials for air-to-air use in the C-UAS role – for the Belgian defence industry and, subsequently, for Ukraine's F-16s. In Belgium, the F-16AM is already being phased out and replaced by the F-35A (-> The first F-35s arrived in Belgium in October 2025).

The Luchtmacht said of the test:

In recent days, the air force has tested a new capability to counter medium-sized attack drones at the Lombardsijde firing range. In cooperation with the army, the navy and Thales Belgium, 70-millimetre FZ275 rockets without explosive charge are being integrated into the F-16 in order to develop an efficient and cost-effective solution against the growing threat posed by Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). With the firing tests, the Ministry of Defence underlines not only its commitment to innovation but also the importance of cooperation with the Belgian defence industry.— Belgian Luchtmacht

In February 2026, L3 Harris Technologies' modular Vampire rocket system engaged ground targets with the FZ275 rocket for the first time, fired from an FZ605 rocket launcher. A Wescam MX-10D electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) system served as the targeting system. As early as 2025, L3 Harris and Shield AI had successfully demonstrated a drone detection system based on artificial intelligence (AI) that detects hostile drones faster and at greater ranges than previous systems.

Counter-UAS for the Bundesheer: FZ275 LGR is coming

This is excellent news for the Austrian Bundesheer. Integration and testing by Leonardo cannot be avoided in order to qualify the weapon system for the AW169MA helicopter (-> Eleven AW169s delivered to the Bundesheer so far) and the recently ordered M-346FA jet trainers. Thales can, of course, already help with data.

Once integration is complete, the Austrian air force will have a modern, combat-proven weapon for the C-UAS role. The Bundesheer's newest aircraft will thus be able to strengthen, as a further component, the multi-layered airspace defence that is currently being expanded everywhere as a high priority.