John Cockerill CLWS 25 mm Turret Integrates Thales 70mm Rockets for Counter-Drone Recon Vehicles.

Belgian defense firm John Cockerill Defense is positioning its Cockerill CLWS remote weapon station as a lightweight 25 mm combat module for reconnaissance vehicles, APCs, and light armored platforms. The system aims to deliver medium-caliber firepower, anti-drone capability, and under-armor operation without the weight or intrusion of a full infantry fighting vehicle turret.

John Cockerill Defense is pushing the Cockerill CLWS into a critical market space to give 4x4-to-8x8 armored fleets true medium-caliber lethality, under-armor operation, and better survivability against light armor, field fortifications, and emerging drone threats without accepting the mass and intrusion of a full infantry fighting vehicle turret. The Belgian system is best understood not as a simple remote weapon station, but as a compact combat module designed to raise the combat value of reconnaissance vehicles, APCs, and mobile security platforms. Official company material shows the CLWS was conceived for tracked or wheeled light vehicles, while trade reporting consistently places it in the niche between heavy-machine-gun RWS fits and heavier 30 mm remote turrets.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link

John Cockerill’s Cockerill CLWS is a lightweight remote weapon station armed with a 25 mm cannon, designed to give 4x4 to 8x8 armored vehicles greater firepower, anti-drone potential, and under-armor survivability (Picture source: Army Recognition Group).

The project’s development path explains that positioning. EDR reported in 2020 that John Cockerill conceived the CLWS for light armored vehicles in the 8 to 10 ton class and explicitly tied its logic to future European reconnaissance and engagement needs, especially the French-Belgian VBAE requirement. The system was publicly introduced at IDEX 2021 and shown in Europe at DSEI 2021, where John Cockerill presented it as a compact, fully remote, modular weapon station for light armored vehicles. That development line later converged with wider European work: John Cockerill said in 2022 that under the FAMOUS2 program, it would coordinate medium-caliber weapon-system development for future light wheeled armored vehicles, and OCCAR confirmed in 2025 that the VBAE preliminary architecture had been established for the future Franco-Belgian light armored vehicle program. By September 2025, industry reporting indicated the CLWS was being finalized at TRL 5, showing that the system had moved well beyond concept status but was still maturing toward production configuration.

The CLWS is attractive because it compresses meaningful firepower into a very light architecture. Early company and industry data put the 25 mm version around 600 kg combat weight, built in welded aluminum, with minimal intrusion below the ring, a low profile around 600 mm with coaxial sight, and STANAG 4569 Level 2 protection on key elements. The main armament can be a 25x137 mm cannon, such as the M24,2 or an equivalent European gun, while earlier brochures also offered a 30x113 mm cannon, a 12.7 mm machine gun, rockets, or turret-launched anti-tank missiles depending on mission. The Brussels display card viewed by Army Recognition showed a later 25 mm configuration with a dual-feeder, up to 200 ready rounds in standard form, a 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun, optional ATGM fit, and elevation to +60 degrees. What made the BEDEx configuration especially notable was the visible integration of Thales 70 mm rockets on the turret, adding a second layer of engagement capability beyond the gun itself. That matters because it turns the CLWS into a broader weapons package able to shift from direct-fire support to standoff engagement, area suppression, or short-range air defense against drones. It also reinforces the idea that the system is evolving toward a stronger anti-drone and high-angle fires profile than earlier public literature suggested.

Operationally, the CLWS gives a country several practical options. Mounted on a reconnaissance 4x4, it provides far more overmatch than a 12.7 mm station and can engage light armored vehicles, firing points, and dismounted concentrations while keeping the crew under armor. Mounted on a 6x6 APC, it becomes a self-defense and fire-support module that still preserves troop volume because it avoids a large basket intrusion. Mounted on border-security or internal-security vehicles, the combination of a 25 mm cannon and Thales 70 mm rockets offers a useful mix of precision fire, suppressive effect, and rapid response against ambush positions, fortified points, or technicals. In a counter-UAS context, the high-elevation weapon envelope, thermal sighting suite, and rocket integration could allow a layered response in which the gun handles close and persistent targets while rockets provide a higher-effect option against airborne threats or targets in defilade. Trade reporting also highlights its suitability for older-platform upgrades such as the M113, while John Cockerill and Army Recognition have both framed the system as adaptable to robotic ground vehicles and fixed-site defense.

As for operators, no country appears to have publicly confirmed the CLWS in operational service as of March 2026. Publicly available material reviewed for this article shows the system on demonstrators such as Patria’s 6x6 HAPC, in discussions around the future VBAE ecosystem, and more recently on the Arquus MAV’RX shown at World Defense Show 2026, but not yet in a disclosed fielded fleet. That does not weaken the concept. In fact, it means the strongest near-term customers are likely armies seeking rapid lethality upgrades for reconnaissance and internal-security vehicles, border forces wanting a compact counter-drone and anti-ambush gun system, or APC operators that need medium-caliber punch without moving to a full IFV procurement.

Against competitors, the CLWS occupies an interesting middle ground. Kongsberg’s PROTECTOR RT20 is a mature remote turret already selected for the U.S. Marine Corps ACV program, with 30 mm firepower, under-armor reload, and strong digital fire control, but it is aimed at heavier combat vehicles and sits in a more established medium-turret class. EOS’s R400 is even lighter and already in service, but it is optimized around 30x113 mm lethality and shorter-range engagement logic. The CLWS offers a different proposition: more punch than ultra-light cannon RWS solutions through its 25x137 mm option, added mission flexibility through Thales 70 mm rockets for ground-to-ground or ground-to-air use, more protection and growth potential than minimalist stations, and less burden than full-size unmanned turrets. If John Cockerill converts that balance into a launch order, the CLWS could become one of Europe’s more relevant answers to the demand for compact, networked, anti-drone-capable firepower on light armored fleets.