{"id":83009,"date":"2026-08-24T16:12:51","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T16:12:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2026\/08\/24\/italy-eyes-us-tech-for-souping-up-dumb-missiles-into-drone-interceptors\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T16:12:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T16:12:51","slug":"italy-eyes-us-tech-for-souping-up-dumb-missiles-into-drone-interceptors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2026\/08\/24\/italy-eyes-us-tech-for-souping-up-dumb-missiles-into-drone-interceptors\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy eyes US tech for souping up dumb missiles into drone interceptors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ROME \u2014 The Italian Air Force is mulling the purchase of U.S. technology that turns cheap unguided missiles into precision weapons, offering a low-cost option for taking out drones instead of using pricy air-to-air missiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The potential deal was made possible by the U.S. Department of State\u2019s approval of a Foreign Military Sale to Italy of 5,031 BAE Systems Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) II guidance systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The APKWS, which can be inserted between the warhead of an unguided missile and its motor, features four fold-out wings which each carry a laser seeker, turning a missile that costs less than \u20ac100,000 ($117,000) into a guided weapon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The solution would allow the Italian Air Force to avoid firing missiles like the AMRAAM &#8211; which costs ten times that &#8211; to destroy cheaply produced drones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe proposed sale will improve Italy\u2019s capability to meet current and future threats by strengthening its homeland defense and serving as a deterrent to regional threats,\u201d the State Department said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The FMS approval also covers launchers, warheads and rocket motors, as well as technical support, taking the potential deal to $364 million, the State Department added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sources in Italy told Defense News no contract had been signed and the technology was still being evaluated. The likely recipient of the APKWS would be Italy\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/global\/europe\/2026\/02\/19\/bae-says-its-eurofighter-pipeline-is-filled-until-first-gcap-assembly\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/global\/europe\/2026\/02\/19\/bae-says-its-eurofighter-pipeline-is-filled-until-first-gcap-assembly\/\">Eurofighter<\/a> jet, which is already guarding Europe\u2019s borders against drone incursions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This month, an Italian Eurofighter taking part in NATO air policing mission in the Baltics shot down an unidentified drone which flew into Latvian airspace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In May, the Royal Air Force announced it was already using the system on its Eurofighters after a rapid acquisition which saw testing and deployment completed in two months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) gives RAF pilots a highly accurate option to destroy aerial targets and allows them to engage drones at a fraction of the cost of traditional air-to-air missiles,\u201d the RAF said at the time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Italian Air Force is mulling the purchase of U.S. technology that turns cheap unguided missiles into precision weapons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":121142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":46,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[7,160,46,11,36],"tags":[8616],"coauthors":[3345],"class_list":["post-83009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air","category-daily-news-roundup","category-europe","category-global","category-newsletters","tag-italy"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"3IIADW7VRFBCTP2SOFITJR2CYA","arc_canonical_url":"\/global\/europe\/2026\/08\/24\/italy-eyes-us-tech-for-souping-up-dumb-missiles-into-drone-interceptors\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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