The U.S. Army is testing a new 30-millimeter round designed to help attack helicopters counter the growing threat posed by enemy drones on the battlefield.
Officials at the Yuma Test Center recently conducted testing of the Aviation Proximity Explosive, or APEX, round at Yuma Proving Ground.
The round was developed primarily for use by the AH-64 Apache and is designed to integrate with the helicopter’s M230 automatic cannon.
Test officer Walter McCormick said the APEX round is designed to detonate in front of an unmanned aerial system rather than striking it directly, creating a fragmentation pattern intended to destroy the drone in flight.
“The APEX round was developed to be a frag round that would prox(imo) in front of the UAS and make a frag pattern that would take out a UAS,” McCormick said.
The munition is similar in form and function to existing 30-mm rounds used by the Apache, including the M788 training round and the M789 high-explosive dual-purpose round, but differs in that it detonates before reaching the target.
The Army’s push for improved counter-drone capabilities comes as unmanned aerial systems have become increasingly common on the battlefield, particularly in the war between Russia and Ukraine. Army leaders have emphasized the need to rapidly develop technologies to detect and defeat drones.
Daniel Driscoll has called for the Army to focus more heavily on unmanned aircraft and counter-UAS technology. The Yuma Test Center has been designated as the primary interagency range for testing and training related to counter-small unmanned aircraft systems.
During the test campaign, crews fired about 1,200 rounds during two subtests designed to compare the APEX round with the legacy M789 round and evaluate its effectiveness against aerial targets. Testers engaged several unmanned aerial systems as well as ground targets at both close and long ranges.
McCormick said Yuma Proving Ground’s nearly 2,000 square miles of restricted airspace and year-round clear weather make it uniquely suited for aerial weapons testing.
Testing also relied on a range of support assets, including overhead scoring from Black Hawk helicopters, Kineto tracking mounts, telemetry systems, high-speed video, still photography and ground-based instrumentation to collect performance data from multiple angles.
The next step for the APEX round will be an airworthiness release, which would authorize soldiers to fire the munition from Apache helicopters once the rounds become available. The certification would mark a key milestone toward eventual materiel release and fielding to Army units.
