VAMPIRE Counter-Drone System to Build on Success in Ukraine

The Florida-based company L3Harris has unveiled details for its plans for the further development of its VAMPIRE (Vehicle-Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Equipment) counter-drone system after its success in support of Ukraine’s armed forces. This version uses laser-guided 70mm Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) rockets mounted on the US High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV – Humvee).

In the future, it sees VAMPIRE taking the fight against drones – and potentially other target types – further forward. According to the company, VAMPIRE will not only utilize rockets on land-based platforms but also combine other weapons optimized with AI-enhanced sensors, along with the latest command and control software and electronic warfare operations. The systems will be mounted on static, sea, and airborne platforms as well as a range of mobile ground vehicles, L3Harris stated.

Fourteen VAMPIRE systems were supplied to Ukraine, first entering service in 2023, which Jon Rambeau, president of L3Harris Integrated Mission Systems said had “Successfully shot down hundreds of enemy drones. He said this was at “greatly reduced” cost.

The issue of cost-per-engagement once again reared its head in September after around 20 Russian drones, each valued at around $20,000, intruded into Polish airspace, whose air force engaged around four of them using air-to-air missiles costing upwards of $1 million.

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The expanded VAMPIRE family

Stalker XR

The image shows the new system, said to include a larger 12-missile weapons launcher cassette – against the usual four – along with extended range munitions, mounted on the US M1301 Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV). L3 Harris says other mobile land platforms will include the USMC Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) and the US Army’s Small Multipurpose Equipment Transport (SMET) unmanned ground vehicle (UGV).

Black Wake

VAMPIRE is optimized for maritime use against both drones and fast attack vessels deployable on both crewed and unmanned surface vessels (USV). L3 Harris is using the UK’s DSTL / Royal Navy’s Maritime Autonomy Surface Testbed (MAST) 13 USV combined with L3Harris’ proprietary “ASView” autonomous control system. The VAMPIRE launcher is rear-mounted with a front-end sensor mounted on a telescopic mast – a concept similar to Ukraine’s Sea Baby and Magura sea drones, variants of which include modified air-to-air missiles to attack Russian helicopters and aircraft over the Black Sea

Dead Wing

Designed for deployment on aircraft in the counter-drone role which L3Harris illustrates with an Apache attack helicopter, but which were deployed in the role on US F-16s, F-15Es, and A-10s to provide protection in the Middle East in September.

CASKET

Containerized Anti-drone System with Kinetic Effects Turret (CASKET) is a self-contained VAMPIRE-in-a-box, designed for rapid deployment for facility or asset protection in remote locations. A similar system has already been trialed by the US Army.

BAT

The Base Anti-drone Turret (BAT) variant is designed as a semi-permanent system to protect military bases and critical infrastructure, combining automatic weapons and non-kinetic effects to minimize collateral damage. L3 Harris says it is working on the development of directed energy weapons for use with its VAMPIRE platforms that could include a high-power lasers, microwave (HPM) and high-frequency radio waves that would bring down drones or cause them to malfunction..

Killcode

Electronic warfare variant that aims to uses jammers to disrupt or disable threats both instead of, and in conjunction with, munitions.

L3Harris says the expanded VAMPIRE family will be able to target a wide range of drones from small first-person view (FPV) UAVs flying at heights of under 360 meters (1,200 feet) and speeds of less than 200 kph (115 mph) and drones that weigh around 600 kilograms (1,320 pounds) flying at altitudes up to 5,500 meters (18,000 feet) at speeds of up to 450 kph (290 mph).