Americans sing about him at ball games and patriotic events:
And the red glow of the rockets, the bombs exploding in the air,
During the night it gave evidence that our flag was still there.
The red glow depicts the rocket bombardment of Fort McHenry by HMS Erebus on the night of September 13, 1814. With 32 pounds of gunpowder, the rockets were launched one level below deck through the hatches and in great numbers. Fort McHenry was bombarded incessantly.
These rockets were invented by Sir William Congreve in 1808, based on rockets used by Kingdom of Mysore against the East India Company during the Second, Third and Fourth Anglo-Mysore Wars.
Sir William improved the Mysore rockets and they were used extensively in the War of 1812 at Lewes, Delaware; in the Chesapeake Campaign (Battle of Bladensburg, Battle of North Point); and as part of the attack on Washington, DC.
Rockets date back to the 13th century in China, perhaps earlier. Over time, they were improved, but once launched, they were guided only by the original purpose. To improve accuracy, some were stabilized with thread.
In the late 1940s, the US Navy developed the Mk 4 “Mighty Mouse” unguided missile, designed as an air-to-air weapon to shoot down Soviet bombers at a safer distance than using a machine gun. (The working assumption was that Soviet bombers could carry atomic weapons.)
The main innovation was the folding of the fins on the missiles so that they could be launched from multi-tube containers, increasing the firepower of a single aircraft and improving the chances of hitting a target.
The Mighty Mouse set the size standard at 70mm or 2.75 inches in diameter. In the 1970s and 1980s, the original Mighty Mouse was further refined and became the Hydra 70 system.
The Hydra 70 comes in different models with multiple types of heads. However, like Mighty Mouse and others before him, going back to Congress, Hydra 70 was undirected.
This changed with the development of a laser guidance kit for the Hydra. Developed by BAE systems, the kit is known as the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS).
The kit was developed starting around 2005 and entered service in 2016. Recently, a number of improvements have been made to make APKWS effective against drones. So far, these improvements include new proximity fuses that replace mechanical ones, a specialized dual-sensor warhead so the operator doesn’t have to hold the laser on target until a hit is achieved, and new software to optimize anti-drone operations.
Hydras with laser kits can be launched from fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters.
Vampire
VAMPIRE or Vehicle Agnostic Modular Rocket Equipment ISR is a portable system developed by L3-Harris. It is proving effective against Group 2 (small and medium tactical drones) and Group 3 UAVs (for example, Shahed-136 and Russian Geran replicas, and Orlan-10, a Russian medium-range multipurpose drone.)
The VAMPIRE is deployed on pickup trucks such as the Ford 150 or Toyota Hilux and on the M1152 HMMWV (Humvee) and in fixed locations including building roofs.
In Iran’s current war, Hydras with APKWS kits have been effective against Iranian and Hezbollah drones. The American A-10, along with other fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, have played a strong role in neutralizing a large number of drones in the war. Similarly, the system is used in Ukraine both in aircraft, helicopters and for the protection of points in fixed locations.
Hydration kits are effective in any weather, day or night. The system uses laser guidance to lock onto targets, which works in combination with aircraft sensors such as the AN/APG-82 radar and targets (eg LANTIRN), ensuring accurate engagement, even in total darkness.
Hydra is not alone
Russia has its own version called the S-8L Corvet that is deployed on helicopters (Ka-52M Alligator and Mi-28NM Havoc) and the Su-25 attack aircraft. It has a range of 6 km, compared to 1.5 to 5 km for APKWS when air launched. It has a diameter of 3.15 inches.
Not much is known about the performance of the S-8L, but it appears that the Corvette is appearing on the Russian Pantsir system, either in the mobile version or in turrets with Pantsir components on top.
For example, as of August 2025, Vladimir Putin’s Valdai residence in Russia’s Novgorod region was protected by at least 12 Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air missile systems, many mounted on specially constructed steel towers. The systems are positioned around the “Uzhin” complex (a part of the Valdai residence) to protect against increasing drone attacks.
It is not clear whether they include guided S-8Ls or a new “mini missile”, but upgrades are likely to have been installed, especially after it was claimed that 91 long-range Ukrainian drones targeted Putin’s residence near Lake Valdai on the night of 28–29 December 2025.
of Pantsir (SA-22 Greyhound) is a Russian family of self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery systems. Designed for point defense of military and industrial installations, it combines 12 57E6 missiles and twin 30mm 2A38M autocannons to engage aircraft, drones and precision-guided weapons.
A new version of the Pantsir-SM has replaced the larger missiles in the Pantsir with a cluster of four mini-missiles, apparently guided (which may be the same as the S-8L). The dual 30mm autocannons have also been removed.
Ukraine has said Pantsir is the main obstacle to its drone strikes deep inside Russian territory. There are various ways to defeat them, using feints or attacks, directly targeting the Pantsirs using cruise missiles and drones, and bypassing them (given their range limitations).
It is also not clear how well Pantsir ground units are integrated with existing air defense assets and command and control facilities.
The future
like the Wall Street Journal reportedthere is a race to develop “cheap” low-cost alternatives to shooting down drones. Meanwhile, improvements to existing defenses, such as APKWS, offer the best way forward in the near term, especially against medium-range drone threats.
Palletized or vehicle-mounted APKWS Hydra missiles can help protect US domestic military bases, such as Barksdale, the bomber base in Louisiana that was attack earlier this month, from drone strikes.
While the Pentagon has no real plan to protect US bases here at home, using VAMPIRE makes sense and is affordable and available.
Stephen Bryen is a senior correspondent for the Asia Times and a former US Deputy Under Secretary of Defense. This article also appears in its Substack, Weapons and Strategy.
