Overview
- The Defense Department reached a multiyear framework with BAE Systems on Monday that would allow purchases of up to 25,000 APKWS laser‑guidance kits per year for up to seven years.
- The framework includes a formal pathway for surge capacity to 35,000 kits a year if allied governments request weapons through the Foreign Military Sales process.
- Implementation is conditional on Congress authorizing and appropriating funds, and a current continuing resolution that caps spending through Dec. 11 could limit near‑term obligating of money.
- BAE said it will ramp production while the parties negotiate a binding multiyear contract and will expand output at its Hudson, New Hampshire, and Austin, Texas, facilities.
- APKWS converts unguided 2.75‑inch rockets into laser‑guided munitions used by all four U.S. services as a lower‑cost, flexible option for precision strikes and countering drones, and the deal follows earlier Pentagon framework efforts and a 2025 Navy contract to further shore up the munitions industrial base.