🎯 **FZ123空爆弹头专为反无人机设计**：该弹头装有数千颗微小的钢珠，并由约两磅高爆炸药驱动。当弹头在空中引爆时，钢珠会以约80英尺直径的范围扩散，如同霰弹枪的弹丸一样，能有效摧毁来袭的无人机或无人机群，为乌克兰等国提供了一种经济高效的无人机防御手段。

💰 **成本效益显著，优于导弹**：相比于昂贵的防空导弹，70毫米火箭弹及其FZ123弹头具有显著的成本优势。文章指出，即使是其最昂贵的激光制导火箭弹，成本也仅为常规导弹的五分之一，使其成为应对大规模无人机攻击的低成本解决方案，能够以较低的单价拦截目标，减轻财政负担。

🚀 **生产能力迅速扩张以满足需求**：面对乌克兰等客户的巨大需求，Thales Belgium正在大幅提高其70毫米火箭弹的生产能力。该公司计划在年底前生产约3,500枚火箭弹，并有望在2026年前将年产能提升至10,000枚。同时，其无制导火箭弹的年产能已达30,000枚，并可能翻倍，显示了其应对市场需求的强大决心和能力。

🚁 **多平台兼容与部署**：FZ123弹头可适配标准北约70毫米火箭发射器，目前乌克兰正通过卡车Mounted的Vampire系统发射。此外，部分改进的MI-8直升机也能发射这些弹药。这种多平台兼容性使得该武器系统能够灵活部署于地面和空中，提供点防御或空中拦截能力，增强了作战的灵活性和效率。

A European manufacturer has been ramping up production of an airburst warhead for its 70mm rocket.The FZ123 warhead disperses thousands of small steel balls that intercept an enemy drone.Business Insider visited Thales Belgium to get a closer look at the warhead and its rockets.

Ukraine's drone war is fueling the rise of a new rocket in Europe: a helicopter-fired munition tweaked to create a small steel cloud in the sky.

As Russia barrages Ukraine with growing waves of Shahed one-way attack drones, European weapons manufacturer Thales has been fitting an airburst warhead on its 70mm rockets to counter such threats.

The new FZ123 warhead is filled with thousands of tiny steel pellets blasted out by two pounds of high-explosive material.

When the warhead detonates, the pellets burst out in an area of about 80 feet in diameter to take down a drone or drone swarm, much like the way birdshot spreads from a shotgun shell. Depending on how far the rocket has been flying, the steel balls can be spread even wider.

Ukrainian troops rely on shotguns to shoot small drones at extremely close range. Similarly, the rocket-carried warhead is an inexpensive means to destroy NATO-standard Class II drones — which include the Shahed — and heavier Class III drones at up to 10,000 feet away with air bursts.

The FZ123 was unveiled last year during the Eurosatory 2024 defense exhibition in Paris. Thales Belgium hosted Business Insider at one of its production facilities in the eastern city of Herstal to give us a closer look at the warhead and its delivery rockets.

Thomas Colinet, Thales Belgium's domain director for vehicles and tactical systems, confirmed that the weapon is being deployed in Ukraine, and that Kyiv's demand is greater than what the firm can produce.

"The good thing for us is, if they are asking for more, it means they are happy with it," said Colinet.

Costlier than drones, cheaper than missiles

Ukraine, hard-pressed for cost-effective defenses against Russia's Shahed waves, has also been building new types of first-person-view drones that fly fast enough to catch up to the loitering munitions and intercept them.

These interceptor drones typically cost $500 each, and it's rare for one to be more expensive than $5,000.

By comparison, 70mm rockets are far costlier than interceptor drones but much cheaper and easier to make than missiles. More recently, the US used such munitions to destroy about 40% of the Houthi drones it intercepted over the Red Sea.

Thales Belgium declined to reveal the cost estimate for its 70mm rockets with the FZ123 warhead. But even its most expensive rockets, with laser guidance kits, are generally a fifth the cost of a conventional missile. Cheaper air defense missiles, such as the AIM-7 Sparrow, cost roughly $125,000 each.

"I will not give numbers, of course, but if you have to compare that to a missile? There is no fight. The rocket is kind of a low-cost missile," Colinet said of the cost.

He also declined to say how many warheads have been sent to Kyiv's forces. Thales Belgium's production capacity, however, can provide some clues.

The FZ123 is one of the warheads that can be delivered via Thales' laser-guided 70mm rocket originally made for attack helicopters.

Thales Belgium aims to produce roughly 3,500 of these rockets by the end of the year, and hopes to scale up to an annual capacity of 10,000 by 2026.

The anti-drone warhead can also be fitted onto an unguided version of the 70mm rocket, of which Thales Belgium says it can now build 30,000 a year. If its Herstal factory works double shifts, it might reach an annual capacity of 60,000, though its suppliers would also have to step up production.

Still, this doesn't mean all of these rockets carry the anti-drone warhead — Thales Belgium also builds air-to-ground and ground-to-ground variants. Some of its 70mm rockets, for example, are used to destroy uncrewed ground vehicles deployed by Russia.

The company also sells some of the rockets to its regular customers in Europe and some non-NATO countries, such as India.

How the FZ123 and its rockets work

Compatible with standard NATO 70mm launchers, the rockets are currently fired by Ukraine's Vampire systems, which are multibarrel launchers manufactured by L3Harris that can be mounted on trucks.

Some versions are also fired by Ukrainian MI-8 helicopters that were retrofitted to shoot NATO munitions.

Truck-mounted 70mm rocket batteries with the FZ123 could be useful for point defense, and helicopters can fluidly intercept drones in flight with these short-range weapons.

The laser-guided rocket faces some challenges. To down a Russian attack drone, Ukrainian troops will have to consistently illuminate their target until the rocket reaches it, when a proximity or impact fuze would detonate the warhead.

Moscow's forces have recently started flying Shaheds at higher altitudes and often pick nights with bad weather conditions for big waves, making the drones harder to track and destroy. Still, this difficulty applies to many other air defense systems.

Olivier Heuschen, head of strategy and marketing for vehicles and tactical systems at Thales Belgium, said that if the 70mm guided rocket can't detect a laser, it flies toward its last-known target for five seconds before continuing in ballistic flight.

Scrambling to meet skyrocketing demand

With drone warfare concerns soaring in Europe, Thales has been surging rocket production, increasing staff by fivefold in the last five years to about 300 employees at its Herstal plant. Heuschen said it also plans to work with Ukraine to assemble and repair some 70mm rockets there, an agreement announced in November by officials in Kyiv.

A series of high-profile drone incursions over the last month in Poland, Denmark, and Romania has heightened anxieties even further.

Alain Quevrin, country director for Thales Belgium, said his company has been fielding an "unbelievable" flood of inquiries about the 70mm rocket this week.

The firm, owned by the French-headquartered Thales Group, is the only main builder of 70mm rockets in Europe.

"All the European countries are showing interest, for sure," Quevrin said.

When Poland reported more than a dozen Russian drone incursions within one night, NATO scrambled fighter jets, including F-35s, to intercept the platforms.

At least some of these drones were found to be decoy versions of the Shahed.

Ukrainian military bloggers balked at the cost of the missiles reportedly used — million-dollar AIM-120 air-to-air munitions, and Warsaw and Copenhagen have since announced partnerships to learn how Ukraine produces cost-efficient drone defenses.

"They are really raising questions," Quevrin said of the countries asking about the 70mm rocket. "'Do we have the right system to address this concern?'"