Breaking News
U.S. Army AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopters Adopt New Proximity-Fuzed 30mm Round For Anti-Drone Missions.
The U.S. Army confirmed that its AH-64 Apache helicopters are moving to field the XM1225 APEX 30mm proximity-fuzed round for the M230 cannon. The upgrade adds a lower-cost, high-volume counter-drone option without modifying the aircraft’s gun or fire control system, strengthening U.S. Army readiness in drone-saturated battlefields.
On February 12, 2026, the U.S. Army confirmed that its AH-64 Apache attack helicopters are moving to field a new proximity-fuzed 30mm round for the chin-mounted M230 cannon, adding a dedicated gun-based counter-drone option. The 30x113mm XM1225 Aviation Proximity Explosive, recently validated in live-fire tests at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, is designed to defeat small unmanned aircraft as well as exposed ground targets, including personnel, light vehicles, and small boats. According to the Army’s February 12 article, the ammunition requires no modification to the Apache’s existing weapon system, reflecting a broader push to adapt legacy platforms for a drone-saturated battlespace while giving crews a more affordable alternative to missile interceptors.
The U.S. Army is equipping its AH-64 Apache helicopters with a new XM1225 proximity-fuzed 30mm round, adding a lower-cost, gun-based capability to counter small drones without modifying the aircraft (Picture Source: U.S. Army)
At the heart of this evolution is the XM1225 APEX, a 30x113mm cartridge developed and managed by Product Manager Medium Caliber Ammunition at Picatinny Arsenal in Picatinny Arsenal. Unlike traditional impact-fuzed high-explosive rounds, APEX carries a proximity fuze that commands the projectile to detonate when it passes close to a target, creating a dense fragmentation cloud instead of relying on a direct hit. This is particularly relevant against small multirotor or fixed-wing drones, whose size, agility and erratic flight make them notoriously difficult to engage with conventional high-explosive dual-purpose (HEDP) shells. At the same time, APEX retains full utility against surface targets: exposed infantry, soft-skinned vehicles and small craft can all be engaged with area effects that are more forgiving of minor aiming errors than legacy point-detonating ammunition.
The Apache’s first live-fire campaign with XM1225 took place in December 2025 at Yuma Proving Ground, where the helicopter executed its first air-to-air 30mm proximity engagements against unmanned aircraft system targets at various ranges. The test, led by the medium-caliber ammunition office, drew in specialists from Project Manager Apache, the Army Evaluation Center, DEVCOM Aviation and Missile Center, DEVCOM Armaments Center, Yuma Test Center and Redstone Test Center, illustrating how ammunition, platform and test communities are being synchronized around the counter-UAS mission. Under identical conditions, engineers compared XM1225’s accuracy with that of the legacy M789 HEDP round and collected data on mixed belts combining both types for use against ground and aerial threats. According to the Army, XM1225 met all accuracy requirements and demonstrated high effectiveness against both ground and UAS targets, validating the concept of a proximity-fuzed 30mm solution on an attack helicopter.
From a crew perspective, one of the notable attributes of APEX is that its external ballistics closely match those of the M789 HEDP round already used in the M230. Test pilots at Redstone highlighted that similarity, stressing that the new cartridge delivers a larger burst radius on target without imposing major additional training demands on maintainers or aircrews. Because the gun’s firing tables, sight settings and handling procedures remain broadly familiar, Apache units will be able to integrate proximity-fuzed ammunition into their load plans while preserving established gunnery skills. On the maintenance side, the absence of hardware modifications to the gun or fire-control system avoids downtime and simplifies logistics, an important point at a time when operational availability is scrutinized as closely as raw lethality.
The XM1225 round reshapes how Apache units can contribute to layered air defense. The chin-mounted M230, slaved to the crew’s helmet-mounted sight, was originally optimized for suppressing ground targets, not precision engagements of small drones in three dimensions. Proximity fuzing compensates for that limitation: instead of having to score a near-direct hit on a fast-moving quadcopter, the crew can place a burst in its general vicinity and rely on the fragmentation envelope to intersect the drone’s path. In practical terms, this means that Apache formations escorting convoys, guarding refuelling points or supporting mechanized units can clear low-altitude airspace of hostile reconnaissance or loitering munitions using short cannon bursts rather than expending valuable missiles. It also creates a flexible tool for defending friendly forces against first-person-view (FPV) strike drones, which often fly low and pop up at short range, leaving little time to cue slower-reacting surface-to-air systems.
At the tactical level, the new ammunition gives Apache battalions a more granular choice of effect. Against a high-value UAS or manned aircraft, a guided missile may still be the weapon of choice; but against small, cheap drones, cannon-delivered airburst becomes a cost-effective alternative that can be carried in large quantities. A single Apache can embark hundreds of 30mm rounds, versus a much smaller number of air-to-air or surface-attack missiles. This increases the number of engagements each aircraft can conduct on a sortie and reduces the risk that units will be forced to hold fire to conserve expensive precision weapons. In an era of high sortie rates and persistent drone presence, that economy of force is not a minor consideration.
The XM1225 program also illustrates how the Army is accelerating the path from laboratory to field. According to the Army’s official account, the proximity fuze was developed by the Armaments Center, which then worked with the ammunition product office to generate data for Northrop Grumman, enabling the company to prepare production and support an Urgent Materiel Release. The Warfighter Ammunition Information Program (WAIP) played a distinct role as well: retired senior non-commissioned officers embedded in the test campaign collected and relayed real-time feedback from master gunners and Apache pilots, ensuring that user experience directly informed future decisions about employment and fielding. This combination of government laboratories, program offices, industry and soldier-experience channels is becoming a template for rapidly adapting ammunition to new threat sets such as small UAS.
Beyond immediate battlefield benefits, the APEX cartridge carries broader doctrinal implications for U.S. rotary aviation. Apache units, already central to deep attack and close combat, are now poised to play a more explicit role in localized air defense. In scenarios along NATO’s eastern flank, for example, Apache companies could be tasked not only with disrupting enemy maneuver forces but also with patrolling drone-contested corridors above friendly brigades, using 30mm airburst fire to break reconnaissance and target-acquisition chains before they translate into artillery strikes. In maritime and littoral environments, the same ammunition can be employed to sweep low-altitude airspace around amphibious task groups or riverine convoys while still offering effective surface fire against small boats and shore targets. The result is a more versatile attack helicopter that contributes simultaneously to ground fires and counter-UAS defense, integrated into joint kill-web architectures that fuse sensors and effectors across domains.
At the strategic level, Apache’s adoption of proximity-fuzed 30mm ammunition is part of a wider global shift toward gun-based counter-drone solutions. As reported by Army Recognition, Russia’s state-owned Rostec has unveiled a new 30mm programmable airburst cartridge for the 30x165mm 2A42 cannon, intended for platforms such as BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles, BMPT tank support vehicles and Mi-28NM and Ka-52M attack helicopters. This Russian round uses a shrapnel projectile with a fuze that is programmed by the fire-control system just before firing, so that the shell bursts at a calculated point along the drone’s trajectory, enveloping it in fragments. In effect, both the American XM1225 and the Russian 2A42 airburst solution transform existing 30mm cannons, one in 30x113mm, the other in 30x165mm, into short-range anti-drone weapons for helicopters and armored vehicles, offering a more affordable and sustainable response to massed UAS than relying solely on missiles.
This convergence highlights a worldwide trend: armed forces are no longer content to treat drones as a niche target set handled only by dedicated air-defense units. Instead, they are distributing counter-UAS responsibilities down to combined-arms formations and aviation units, relying on programmable or proximity-fuzed medium-caliber ammunition to create lethal “volumes” in the air rather than chasing pinpoint hits. For Russia, equipping widely fielded 2A42-armed vehicles with such rounds promises an organic protection bubble against reconnaissance quadcopters and loitering munitions at the platoon and company level. For the United States, arming Apaches with XM1225 fits into a layered counter-drone ecosystem that also includes electronic warfare, short-range missile systems and dedicated ground-based guns. The technological approaches differ, proximity sensing on one side, time-programmed airburst on the other, but the strategic logic is the same: turn every suitable gun into a potential anti-drone asset.
Seen through this lens, the Apache’s new proximity-fuzed 30mm ammunition is more than a simple incremental upgrade to a venerable attack helicopter. It marks a shift in how rotary-wing platforms are expected to fight in an age where the airspace between treetops and a few thousand feet is increasingly crowded with unmanned systems. By combining a familiar weapon system with a new class of ammunition, the U.S. Army is positioning the Apache to act not only as a hunter of armor and fortified positions but also as a guardian of the low-altitude envelope around friendly forces. As other nations, from Saudi Arabia to European and Asian operators, look at airburst and proximity-fuzed solutions for their own 30mm guns, the XM1225 APEX stands out as one of the clearest signals that the future of counter-drone warfare will be written as much in medium-caliber fragments as in missiles and lasers.
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.