RTX Rocket-Powered Coyote Strengthens U.S. Counter-Drone Defense Against Advanced UAV Threats.

RTX’s Raytheon is pushing the Coyote into a faster counter-drone role, confirming on October 12, 2026, three successful tests of the rocket-powered Block 2C+RM. Its solid-fuel motor is designed to cut reaction time and improve performance against faster Class 3 drones. The interceptor also adds a new seeker and warhead while remaining compatible with existing Coyote launchers, radars and command systems. Building on more than 600 reported drone kills by the Block 2C, the upgrade could strengthen U.S. defenses against mass and increasingly sophisticated UAV attacks.

Raytheon has successfully tested its new rocket-powered Coyote Block 2C+RM interceptor, designed to give U.S. forces faster response and greater reach against increasingly advanced drone threats (Picture Source: Army Recognition Group)

RTX’s Raytheon is pushing its combat-proven Coyote interceptor into a new performance category as militaries confront faster drones, mass attacks and increasingly compressed air-defense reaction times. On October 12, 2026, the company confirmed three successful developmental tests of the new Coyote Block 2C+RM, which was also highlighted during AUSA 2026 in Washington D.C. Army Recognition previously reported on the significance of the test campaign, but the interceptor’s appearance around the U.S. Army’s largest annual gathering points to a broader ambition: transforming Coyote into a faster and more adaptable element of U.S. and allied layered counter-drone defenses at a time when unmanned threats are rapidly increasing in speed, sophistication and numbers.

The most important transformation is propulsion. Current Block 2-series Coyotes combine a rocket booster with a sustaining turbojet engine, while the Block 2C+RM replaces that arrangement with a solid-fuel tactical rocket motor designed to provide faster launch and higher-velocity flight. Raytheon has not disclosed precise speed or range figures, but Land & Air Defense Systems President Tom Laliberty said the performance difference is significant in terms of range and terminal engagement capability. The propulsion upgrade is paired with a new seeker and warhead intended to defeat current and emerging drone threats. According to Laliberty, the objective is to cover all types of Class 3 drones, although Raytheon has deliberately avoided identifying specific adversary platforms. One of the developmental flights took place at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah in July 2026, providing an additional indication that the program has moved rapidly beyond the design stage and into physical validation of the new configuration.

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The speed at which the upgrade has progressed is itself notable. Raytheon advanced the Block 2C+RM from concept to developmental testing in approximately 15 months through a company-funded effort supporting what RTX describes as an urgent joint U.S. military counter-drone mission. The three-test campaign included the first launches of a Coyote equipped with the tactical rocket motor and confirmation of initial integration with the current counter-UAS architecture. Importantly, Raytheon says the upgraded interceptor remains compatible with infrastructure already in operational use, including launch cells, guidance radars and command-and-control systems. This could allow the U.S. Army to obtain a substantial increase in interceptor performance without replacing the wider architecture surrounding Coyote. That evolutionary approach is reinforced by the operational record of the existing Block 2C, which Laliberty described as the workhorse of the Army’s counter-UAS capability and credited with defeating more than 600 attack drones during current conflicts.

The operational significance extends beyond simply making Coyote faster. RTX specifically states that the tactical rocket motor is intended to improve threat-engagement times and enable faster successive shots. Against coordinated or mass drone attacks, that characteristic could become one of the Block 2C+RM’s most consequential advantages. Shortening the interval between engagements potentially allows a defensive position to cycle through incoming targets more rapidly, increasing practical defensive capacity when multiple UAVs approach within a compressed period. Modern counter-UAS warfare increasingly requires defenders to defeat not one isolated aircraft but successive waves or groups of systems whose low cost can allow an attacker to impose significant pressure on defensive magazines. A faster interceptor connected to existing detection and command systems addresses not only the performance of the individual engagement but also the tempo at which an air-defense unit can respond.

That architecture also gives the development a growing international dimension. Coyote operates within the U.S. Army’s Low slow small unmanned aircraft Integrated Defeat System or LIDS, alongside Raytheon’s Ku-band Radio Frequency Sensor for 360-degree detection and tracking. During the same AUSA period, RTX announced $729 million in contracts to provide LIDS components to the U.S. Army, Qatar and Jordan, marking the first international sales of KuRFS and Coyote. The announcement does not establish that Qatar or Jordan will receive the new Block 2C+RM configuration, and the two developments should not be conflated. Strategically, however, the emergence of an international Coyote and KuRFS customer base creates a potential pathway through which future improvements to the interceptor family could eventually be introduced across allied counter-UAS architectures. For U.S. partners, the value would extend beyond acquiring another interceptor: operating common sensors, command networks and effectors could improve logistics, training and interoperability during coalition air-defense operations.

The Coyote Block 2C+RM represents considerably more than a propulsion change to an established interceptor. It reflects a broader U.S. effort to shorten the counter-drone development cycle by improving weapons that are already connected to fielded sensors, launchers and command systems rather than waiting for entirely new architectures to enter service. As hostile UAVs evolve from relatively slow reconnaissance platforms into faster one-way attack systems and coordinated mass threats, defensive forces increasingly need both higher interceptor performance and the ability to engage repeatedly within seconds. For the United States, the rocket-powered Coyote offers a path to strengthen an existing combat-tested counter-UAS ecosystem; for allied countries adopting the same architecture, it could eventually provide access to an increasingly common defensive framework capable of evolving as the threat changes. In an era in which inexpensive drones can threaten forces and infrastructure worth many times their own cost, the ability to upgrade a proven counter-UAS architecture rapidly may become just as strategically important as the additional speed delivered by the interceptor itself.

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Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group

Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.