U.S. Army Live-Fires EAGLS Counter-Drone System Using Laser-Guided Rockets in Kuwait.

New U.S. Army imagery released via Defense Visual Information Distribution Service confirms the Electronic Advanced Ground Launcher System (EAGLS) fired an APKWS guided rocket during Exercise Sky Shield in Kuwait. The live-fire event signals that EAGLS is transitioning from a rapid acquisition idea into a theater-ready counter-drone system supporting layered air defense in the Middle East.

Imagery published January 11, 2026, shows a U.S. Army EAGLS launcher engaging aerial targets with a 70 mm Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System rocket during Exercise Sky Shield at Udairi Range, Kuwait, on December 4, 2025. The live-fire test, conducted in the U.S. Central Command area, reflects how rapidly the Pentagon is pushing lower-cost, hard-kill counter-UAS systems forward to address the growing operational strain caused by small, inexpensive drones.
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EAGLS is a mobile counter-drone launcher that uses radar and EO/IR sensors to detect and track targets, then destroys them with four 70 mm APKWS laser-guided rockets, offering a lower-cost hard-kill layer for base and site defense at ranges of up to about 10 km (Picture source: U.S. DoW).

EAGLS is a product of the Pentagon’s rapid acquisition mindset colliding with the Middle East’s relentless drone problem. MSI Defense Solutions disclosed in February 2024 that Naval Air Systems Command awarded the company a contract valued at $24 million, with options up to $34 million, for up to six EAGLS counter-UAS systems plus engineering and maintenance support, explicitly tied to “emerging and persistent” UAS threats in CENTCOM. That provenance explains the system’s design philosophy: fast to field, platform-flexible, and optimized for the cost-exchange fight against cheap drones, numerous, and often launched with little warning.

EAGLS is best understood as a remote weapon station built around a four-round 70 mm rocket launcher firing laser-guided APKWS rockets, paired with organic sensors that let it hunt autonomously or plug into a broader air defense network. Open-source reporting on delivered configurations describes an architecture combining a weapon station, a sensor turret with electro-optical and infrared cameras, and Leonardo’s RPS-40 Multi-Mission Hemispheric Radar, with a stated engagement envelope that can reach about 10 km, broadly matching the radar’s detection range in the same reporting. In practical terms, that is the sweet spot for base defense and point protection: far enough to kill drones before they reach a perimeter, but close enough to stay tactically relevant for maneuver units and dispersed sites.

The radar piece is what separates EAGLS from simpler “rocket-on-a-tripod” concepts. Leonardo DRS describes its Multi-Mission Hemispheric Radar family as a software-defined 4D AESA pulse-Doppler radar designed for counter-UAS and very short-range air defense, with electronic counter-countermeasures and the ability to support stationary or on-the-move operation. The company also notes that a single radar provides 120 degrees of azimuth coverage, with hemispheric coverage achieved by employing four radars as a system, a detail that helps explain how commanders can scale a site’s protection level from a single sector to more complete coverage. Tactically, a radar-cued EAGLS can run “loud” for early warning, then shift emphasis to passive EO/IR for identification and terminal tracking when signature management matters, reducing the time a launcher advertises itself in the electromagnetic spectrum.

Sky Shield offered an unusually relevant backdrop for proving that concept. CENTCOM’s official release frames the exercise as a Kuwait-led, high-end counter-drone event with participation from the United States, Bahrain, and the United Kingdom, explicitly focused on detecting, tracking, and engaging drones through a layered air defense architecture. It also confirms that a live-fire event included Patriot missile launches attended by senior leaders, including Kuwait’s defense minister and CENTCOM’s deputy commander, Maj. Gen. Sean M. Salene, who called the exercise “a major achievement by Kuwait,” reinforced collective commitment to regional security. In that layered construct, EAGLS fills the gap that Patriot cannot economically cover: the low-altitude, low-cost threat stream that can saturate defenses if every track is treated like a cruise missile.

This is where EAGLS and APKWS become strategically consequential. Congressional analysis has repeatedly highlighted the operational challenge posed by the ubiquity and affordability of drones and the pressure it places on doctrine, organization, and the cost of counter-UAS operations. Meanwhile, recent reporting on APKWS production underscores why the rocket is attractive as an interceptor: it is designed to convert standard 2.75-inch rockets into semi-active laser-guided precision weapons, and it is increasingly treated across the joint force as a way to restore a favorable cost curve against expendable aerial threats. Put bluntly, EAGLS is a field expedient that is maturing into a category: a radar-backed, low-cost hard-kill “drone hunter” that can be deployed in numbers without bankrupting readiness.

As for Kuwait operating EAGLS, there is no public indication in the released material that the Kuwaiti Armed Forces have procured or fielded the system. The DVIDS imagery is credited as a U.S. Army photo and tied to a U.S. Army unit, which strongly suggests the launcher on the range was U.S.-operated for validation in-theater, not a Kuwaiti-owned platform. What Kuwait is clearly doing, however, is building the air defense ecosystem EAGLS is meant to complement: Kuwait continues to invest in Patriot sustainment and capability, including U.S.-approved Patriot equipment and support packages reported in 2025, and Sky Shield’s Kuwait-led format positions the country as both host and coordinator for a regional counter-drone learning cycle. In that light, EAGLS firing in Kuwait is important even if the launcher is American: it demonstrates how quickly the U.S. is pushing affordable interceptors forward, and it gives partners a concrete model for how layered defenses can survive the drone era without burning through their most expensive missiles on the cheapest targets.

Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst.

Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.