hornets

U.S. Marine Corps legacy F/A-18C/D Hornets are in line to add air-to-air optimized versions of the 70mm Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) rocket to their arsenal. This will give the jets an important, lower-cost boost in their ability to take down drones, as well as certain cruise missiles. APKWS II has already become a principal air-to-air counter-drone weapon for the U.S. force, which began using the rockets in this way on F-16 Vipers back in 2024, and has now extended the capability to the F-15E Strike Eagle and A-10 Warthog.

The recently released 2026 Marine Corps Aviation Plan highlighted a “high-density low-cost counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-UAS)/cruise missile capability” as a top funding priority for the service’s F/A-18C/D fleet. The Marines currently have some 125 legacy Hornets in service, which have been receiving other key upgrades and additions to their arsenal in recent years to help ensure their relevance ahead of their expected retirement around the end of the decade.

“The Legacy Hornet continues to generate increased lethality, relevance, and survivability through its final fit,” a Marine Corps spokesperson told TWZ when asked for more information. “Addressing the C-UAS and Cruise missile capability, the F/A-18 has a previously funded, U.S.C. Title X-compliant requirement to incorporate the APKWS in an air-to-air mode and LAU-115/LAU-127 [missile launch rails] to integrate with the AIM-9X.”

Marine legacy Hornets already have the ability to employ the AIM-9X Sidewinder, so it is unclear exactly what changes are being made in this regard, and TWZ has reached back out for details. It is possible that this could entail work to increase the total number of AIM-9Xs the jets can carry at once. The U.S. Navy pursued a similar crash upgrade program for its F/A-18E/F Super Hornets back in 2024 in response to an urgent need for increased capacity to shoot down drones being employed by Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen.

The decision to integrate the air-to-air APKWS II capability onto Marine F/A-18C/Ds is more clear cut, and is a logical development. The Air Force has already proven that the rockets are capable anti-air weapons against drones in real combat, which TWZ was first to report. The service initially disclosed that it was experimenting with using APKWS II in this role back in 2019. This is a capability that may also now be in service in Ukraine on that country’s second-hand F-16s, and could be set to appear elsewhere globally. The laser-guided rockets have separately demonstrated their ability to knock down drones when used as surface-to-air weapons in the course of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

APKWS II was originally designed as an air-to-surface weapon, and Marine legacy Hornets can already employ them in this mode. The rockets also have a demonstrated surface-to-surface capability. Each one of the rockets has three main parts: a 70mm rocket motor at the rear, one of several standardized warhead options at the front, and a laser guidance section in between.

APKWS, The Innovation Continues

The air-to-air optimized variant, designated the AGR-20F and also referred to as the Fixed Wing, Air Launched, Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems Ordnance (FALCO), incorporates a proximity fuze and changes to the munition’s guidance and sensing algorithms.

In the air-to-air role, APKWS II offers valuable cost and magazine depth benefits. The unit cost for the APKWS II guidance section has historically been between $15,000 and $20,000. 70mm rocket motors run in the $1,000 to $2,000 range. The price point for warheads fluctuates more widely, given the breadth of options available, as you can read about more here. By comparison, current generation AIM-9Xs each cost around $450,000, while the latest versions of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) have price tags around $1 million.

For tactical jets like the Marine Corps’ legacy Hornets, APKWS II rockets also come loaded in seven-shot pods. At most, an F/A-18C/D can carry up to 12 traditional air-to-air missiles at once, spread across its wingtip, underwing, and intake stations. However, many of those stations are often taken up by range-extending drop tanks and/or podded sensors. Substituting just one seven-shot pod for a single air-to-air missile would give a jet six more engagement opportunities during a sortie. Multiple pods can also be carried on certain pylons, further increasing the aircraft’s magazine depth.

U.S. operations in recent years against the Houthis in Yemen, as well as in the defense of Israel from Iranian drone and missile attacks, have underscored the importance of more total anti-air capacity, as well as capability. Complex attacks involving large volumes of disparate threats present a real danger of simply overwhelming defenders. This was made clear during Iran’s strikes on Israel in April 2024, when American fighters had to land to rearm and refuel after running out of missiles, all while threats were still passing overhead. In that instance, Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle crews had also unsuccessfully attempted to down Iranian drones with Laser Joint Direct Attack Munition (LJDAM) precision-guided bombs – something else TWZ was first to report – and their aircraft’s built-in 20mm M61 Vulcan cannon.

The specific pairing of air-to-air optimized versions of APKWS II with Marine legacy Hornets will also benefit from the new AN/APG-79(V)4 radars that those aircraft have been receiving in recent years. The APG-79(V)4 is an active electronically scanned array (AESA) type that can ‘see’ further, scan faster, and spot and track targets, even smaller ones, with greater accuracy compared to the previous APG-73 type on the Marine jets.

In their current form, FALCO rockets still have to be guided to their target via laser. This, in turn, requires the active lazing of that target throughout the entire engagement cycle, either by aircraft launching the rocket or another platform. This imposes limits on how fast a launch platform can move on from engaging one target to the next. BAE Systems, the APKWS II’s prime contractor, is now working on a new dual-mode guidance system that adds in an imaging infrared seeker. What this will allow for has been described as a pseudo-fire-and-forget capability, as the rocket would still have to be cued to the target initially via laser.

It should also be stressed that the APKWS II is not a dogfighting weapon. The drones and subsonic cruise missiles that the rockets are capable of engaging are relatively steady, non-reactionary, low-performance targets.

Still, APKWS II has clearly emerged as a valuable, if not increasingly critical, lower-cost companion to traditional air-to-air missiles. As already noted, other countries are beginning to at least take notice. For instance, consideration is being given to adding them to the arsenal of the Eurofighter Typhoon.

More platforms are likely to gain this capability in the future. Given the Navy’s own experiences in operations in and around the Red Sea against the Houthis, it is increasingly curious that there has been no announcement of adding air-to-air versions of the APKWS II to the arsenal available for that service’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornets. The discrepancy is even more pronounced now in light of the Marine Corps’ plans for its legacy Hornets.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A fight between the Detroit Pistons and Charlotte Hornets in the third quarter of Monday night’s game, resulted in four player ejections.

Charlotte’s Moussa Diabate and Miles Bridges were tossed, along with Detroit’s Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart. Hornets coach Charles Lee was ejected in the fourth quarter after he had to be restrained from going after an official while arguing a call.

The Pistons won the game 110-104.

Duren had the ball and was driving toward the basket with just over seven minutes left in the third period when he was fouled by Diabate. Duren turned around to get face-to-face with Diabate and the two appeared to butt heads. Duren then hit Diabate in the face with his open right hand, starting a confrontation that lasted more than 30 seconds and ultimately ended with a brief police presence on the floor.

While Pistons forward Tobias Harris was holding Diabate back, Diabate threw a punch at Duren. Duren walked away and Bridges charged at him, throwing a left-handed punch. Duren retaliated with a punch. Diabate attempted to charge again at Duren and had to be held back.

Stewart left the bench to confront Bridges, who responded with a punch, and the players tussled. At one point, Stewart got Bridges in a headlock and delivered mutiple left-handed blows to his head.

Duren called it an “overly competitive game.”

“Emotions were flaring,” Duren said. “At the end of the day, we would love to keep it basketball, but things happen. Everybody was just playing hard.”

Duren said that opposing NBA teams have been trying to “get in our head” all season.

“This isn’t the first time that people have tried to be like extra aggressive with us and talk to us, whatever the case may be,” Duren said. “But as a group we have done an OK job of handling that energy and intensity. At the end of the day, emotions got high with everybody being competitive. Things happen.”

Duren did not say how the fight started, referring reporters instead to the video replays.

The Hornets did not make Bridges and Diabate available for interviews after the game.

However, Bridges took to Instagram late Monday night to say: “Sorry Hornets nation! Sorry Hornets Organization! Always gonna protect my teammates forever.”

“It looked like two guys got into a heated conversation and it just kind of spiraled from there,” Lee said.

Crew chief John Goble said in a pool report after the game that the players were ejected because they “engaged in fighting activity during the dead ball. After review, we assessed fighting fouls and by rule they were ejected from the game.”

Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff defended his players after the game.

“Our guys deal with a lot, but they’re not the ones that initiated, they’re not the ones who crossed the line tonight,” Bickerstaff said. “It was clear, through frustration, because of what J.D. (Duren) was doing, that they crossed the line. I hate that it got as ugly as it got.

“That’s not something that you ever want to see,” Bickerstaff added, “but if a guy throws a punch at you, you have a responsibility to protect yourself. That’s what happened tonight. If you go back and watch the film, they’re the ones who initiated crossing the line and our guy had to defend himself.”

Tensions continued to mount at the Spectrum Center after the fight.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Lee was ejected and had to be restrained by Hornets guard Brandon Miller while yelling at officials for a no-call after Charlotte’s Grant Williams collided with Detroit’s Paul Reed.

“Grant was walking down the paint and barely touched somebody and the guy fell over and that is what we are going to call a foul,” Lee said. “They have a hard job to make these calls, but I don’t think that was the consistency with which that had been called the rest of the game.”

As for being ejected, Lee said he has to have more control of emotions moving forward.

Reed writes for the Associated Press.