cannon

The AH-64 Apache attack helicopter has evolved into a counter-drone platform in recent years — something we have been following closely. While the Israeli Air Force had pioneered this role for the AH-64 for years, the U.S. Army has now formally codified it and added new capabilities in the process. Now, as we had suggested some time ago, the Apache is getting proximity-fuzed 30mm cannon shells for its chin-mounted M230 cannon that will add to its drone-killing arsenal, giving it a cheaper and more plentiful engagement option than some of the alternatives.

Apaches live-fire tested the 30x113mm XM1225 Aviation Proximity Explosive (APEX) ammo last December, according to a recent Army release. The trials occurred at the service’s sprawling Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) in southern Arizona. Multiple test engagements occurred against various types of drone targets.

The specialized APEX ammunition works by detonating only when it is close to an object, then it explodes in a spray of shrapnel. This is critical to shooting down drones as they are small, independently moving targets, and the Apache’s monocle-targeted chin gun isn’t exactly a sniper rifle in terms of precision. At the same time, the rounds could also be used against targets on the surface — including personnel, soft-skinned vehicles, and small boats, for instance — offering unique area effects compared to the Apache’s standard impact-detonating, high-explosive ammunition.

(Short video) M230 chain gun follows the head movement of AH-64 Apache gunner

AH-64 Apache attack helicopter taking out Iraqi trucks and artillery with its 30mm cannon

Variants of the M230 cannon, the prime contractor for which is now Northrop Grumman, have already become an increasingly popular choice for dealing with lower-end drone threats from the ground. The light-weight M230LF version, designated the M914 in Army service, has found its way onto counter-drone vehicles. This includes the Sgt. Stout Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense (M-SHORAD) system based on the 8×8 Stryker light armored vehicle. The Army has been separately pursuing self-destructing and other kinds of proximity-fuzed 30mm ammunition for use with the M914. The new APEX ammo offers improved performance that can plug-and-play with the Apache/M230 combo. The other rounds for use in ground-based systems have never been cleared for use on the Apache to our knowledge.

The M230LF Bushmaster Chain Gun | XM914

An official Army release on the XM1225’s successful testing reads, in part:

“Developed and managed by Product Manager Medium Caliber Ammunition (PdM MCA) from Picatinny Arsenal, NJ, the XM1225 APEX cartridge is designed to counter modern threats, including UAS, exposed personnel, and small boats, without requiring modifications to the Apache’s M230 Area Weapon System or fire control system. The XM1225 has undergone extensive safety testing to ensure reliable performance, making it a safe and effective addition to the Apache’s arsenal. This innovative design ensures seamless integration into existing platforms while delivering enhanced lethality and operational flexibility.

…The primary objective was to evaluate the XM1225 cartridge’s accuracy and compare its performance to the legacy M789 High Explosive Dual Purpose (HEDP) cartridge under identical conditions. A secondary objective was to collect data on mixed loads of XM1225 and M789 rounds against both ground and UAS targets.

Initial results were highly successful, with the XM1225 meeting all accuracy requirements and demonstrating exceptional effectiveness against both ground and UAS targets. The proximity-fuzed capability of the XM1225 allows it to detonate near the target, creating a larger lethal radius and significantly improving its ability to neutralize airborne and dispersed threats. This capability positions the Apache to dominate the battlefield in both air-to-ground and air-to-air engagements, providing warfighters with a critical edge in modern combat scenarios.”

A key feature of the APEX ammunition is that it requires little additional training for Apache crews to successfully employ it as it acts very similarly, ballistically, to the M789 high-explosive dual-purpose (HEDP) rounds already fielded. Those shells use an impact/grazing fuze to command detonation.

A major issue with using any gun for counter-drone work from the air is that standard high-explosive or incendiary cannon rounds simply keep traveling until they hit something, then they explode. This makes any horizontal or upward aspect shots very problematic, as the rounds can fly many miles before hitting the ground. Anyone or anything in that unpredictable zone would not fare well. Even high-deflection shots are risky, especially considering the size of the drones. Not only will most rounds miss and still hit somewhere below, but the aircraft can easily fly into the drone itself, as judging its distance and keeping track of it in the air is problematic. So, having self-destructing rounds, and even better, proximity fuzed ones that do the same, is key.

U.S Soldiers reload the 30mm rounds in an Apache

As it sits now, the AH-64 has modified AGM-114 missiles that use the Longbow Radar to prosecute aerial targets. Laser-guided Hellfires are potentially another option. Regardless, any Hellfire costs well into the six-digit realm. Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) laser-guided rockets are a lower-cost option, having a low-to-mid five-digit price tag. It isn’t clear if the AH-64 has been cleared to use air-to-air optimized Fixed Wing, Air Launched, Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems Ordnance (FALCO) versions of the APKWS II, which also use a proximity fuze for going after aerial targets, yet.

So, giving AH-64s the gun option, and in a far more reliable and safer manner via a proximity fuzed round, would be a huge boon for crews tasked with the counter-drone mission. Apaches can carry a whopping 1,200 rounds of 30mm ammunition, and they can be reloaded with more very quickly at forward austere locales on the ground.

So as it sits now, it likely won’t be too long before the AH-64 has a new arrow in its anti-drone quiver.

Contact the author: Tyler@twz.com

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A man convicted of trying to assassinate Donald Trump on a Florida golf course in 2024 was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison after a federal prosecutor said his crime was unacceptable “in this country or anywhere.”

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon pronounced Ryan Routh’s fate in the same Fort Pierce courtroom that erupted into chaos in September when he tried to stab himself shortly after jurors found him guilty on all counts.

“American democracy does not work when individuals take it into their own hands to eliminate candidates. That’s what this individual tried to do” Assistant U.S. Atty. John Shipley told the judge.

Routh’s new defense attorney, Martin L. Roth, argued that “at the moment of truth, he chose not to pull the trigger.”

The judge pushed back, noting Routh’s history of arrests, to which Roth said: “He’s a complex person, I’ll give the court that, but he has a very good core.”

Routh then read from a rambling, 20-page statement. Cannon broke in and said none of what he was saying was relevant, and gave him five more minutes to talk.

“I did everything I could and lived a good life,” Routh said, before the judge cut him off.

“Your plot to kill was deliberate and evil,” she said. “You are not a peaceful man. You are not a good man.”

She then issued his sentence: Life without parole, plus seven years on a gun charge. His sentences for his other three crimes will run concurrently.

Routh’s sentencing had initially been scheduled for December, but Cannon agreed to move the date back after Routh decided to use an attorney during the sentencing phase instead of representing himself as he did for most of the trial.

Routh was convicted of trying to assassinate a major presidential candidate, using a firearm in furtherance of a crime, assaulting a federal officer, possessing a firearm as a felon and using a gun with a defaced serial number.

“Routh remains unrepentant for his crimes, never apologized for the lives he put at risk, and his life demonstrates near-total disregard for law,” the prosecutors’ sentencing memo said.

His defense attorney had asked for 20 years plus the mandatory seven for the gun conviction.

“The defendant is two weeks short of being sixty years old,” Roth wrote in a filing. “A just punishment would provide a sentence long enough to impose sufficient but not excessive punishment, and to allow defendant to experience freedom again as opposed to dying in prison.”

Prosecutors said Routh spent weeks plotting to kill Trump before aiming a rifle through shrubbery as the Republican presidential candidate played golf on Sept. 15, 2024, at his West Palm Beach country club.

At Routh’s trial, a Secret Service agent helping protect Trump on the golf course testified that he spotted Routh before Trump came into view. Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and run away without firing a shot.

In the motion requesting an attorney, Routh offered to trade his life in a prisoner swap with people unjustly held in other countries, and said an offer still stood for Trump to “take out his frustrations on my face.”

“Just a quarter of an inch further back and we all would not have to deal with all of this mess forwards, but I always fail at everything (par for the course),” Routh wrote.

In her decision granting Routh an attorney, Cannon chastised the “disrespectful charade” of Routh’s motion, saying it made a mockery of the proceedings. But the judge, nominated by Trump in 2020, said she wanted to err on the side of legal representation.

Cannon signed off last summer on Routh’s request to represent himself at trial. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that criminal defendants have the right to represent themselves in court proceedings, as long as they can show a judge they are competent to waive their right to be defended by an attorney.

Routh’s former federal public defenders served as standby counsel and were present during the trial.

Routh had multiple previous felony convictions, including possession of stolen goods, and a large online footprint demonstrating his disdain for Trump. In a self-published book, he encouraged Iran to assassinate him, and at one point wrote that as a Trump voter, he must take part of the blame for electing him.

Fischer writes for the Associated Press.