On 14 June 2005, Jane’s Defense Weekly reported that:
A draft request for proposals (RfP) is due in July for the US Army’s Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) – the successor to the service’s cancelled Low Cost Precision Kill (LCPK) programme.
In common with the earlier programme, APKWS has been established to add a semi-active laser guidance capability to the 2.75 in (70 mm) unguided rocket system carried by a range of US Army scout and attack helicopters, including the AH-64D Apache.
The imperative for such a weapon has been driven by two principal demands – both of them lessons learned from operations in Iraq. Warfighters believe that a guided 2.75 in, helicopter-fired rocket would be far better suited to urban combat conditions than a heavier, precision-guided missile such as Hellfire. It would also be considerably cheaper.
"In the urban environment today, the options for precision fires are not broad," one industry official said at the Paris Air Show. "You’re not going to shoot a Hellfire into downtown Baghdad or at a moving target such as a truck." In the cost-versus-kill equation, US Army commanders are reluctant to fire a $100,000 weapon such as Hellfire at a $25,000 Toyota pick-up operated by insurgents.