Photo: L3Harris
Past wars of the modern era have taught us drones are the future of warfare, but the ongoing conflict in Ukraine proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt. And, even more worrying, it brought into the fight not only military drones, but commercial ones used for military purposes as well.
For almost a year now, Ukrainian and Russian forces have been throwing weapons of all kinds and sizes at each other with a ferocity not seen on a European battlefield since the Second World War. Drones of all shapes, sizes and uses are a big part of that arsenal.
Russian forces have been making extensive use of both domestically- and foreign-made drones recently as they wage an all-out campaign against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. The Ukrainians on the other hand are proving quite good at shooting most of them down with the means they already have available. And they’ll get even better once they get their hands on a new batch of VAMPIRES.
VAMPIRE stands for Vehicle Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Equipment, and it’s in essence a weapon system that can be installed on most available vehicles, including (or especially) commercial ones, like trucks.
The modular system is made by defense contractor L3Harris and can be used for precision strikes against ground and air targets. It’s portable, meaning it can be deployed anywhere its operators see fit, and depending on needs can be customized with a variety of sensors and weapons. The VAMPIRE has its own power, requiring no 24-volt alternator to be installed on the base vehicle, and can be fitted on trucks in about two hours by a couple of people who need only basic tools for the task at hand.
The defense contractor said over the weekend it received a $40 million contract from the American Department of Defense (DoD) to make 14 VAMPIRES for the needs of the Ukrainian army. We’re not specifically told exactly what configuration will these VAMPIRES come in, but we do know they’ll mostly be used to combat mostly Russian drones.
L3Harris will not ship the system to Ukraine to be installed there, but will instead mount them on “government-provided vehicles” of undisclosed type and send them over ready-to-use. As per the available details, the first four VAMPIRES will reach the battlefield by mid-2023, with the rest to enter combat by the end of the year.
Introduced by L3Harris back in April 2022, the relatively new system was quickly included by America in the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), becoming part of a $3 billion effort to help the European country fight off the aggression. USAI also includes artillery and mortar ammunition, rounds, radars, Puma drones, rockets, but also training and maintenance.
Russian forces have been making extensive use of both domestically- and foreign-made drones recently as they wage an all-out campaign against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. The Ukrainians on the other hand are proving quite good at shooting most of them down with the means they already have available. And they’ll get even better once they get their hands on a new batch of VAMPIRES.
VAMPIRE stands for Vehicle Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Equipment, and it’s in essence a weapon system that can be installed on most available vehicles, including (or especially) commercial ones, like trucks.
The modular system is made by defense contractor L3Harris and can be used for precision strikes against ground and air targets. It’s portable, meaning it can be deployed anywhere its operators see fit, and depending on needs can be customized with a variety of sensors and weapons. The VAMPIRE has its own power, requiring no 24-volt alternator to be installed on the base vehicle, and can be fitted on trucks in about two hours by a couple of people who need only basic tools for the task at hand.
The defense contractor said over the weekend it received a $40 million contract from the American Department of Defense (DoD) to make 14 VAMPIRES for the needs of the Ukrainian army. We’re not specifically told exactly what configuration will these VAMPIRES come in, but we do know they’ll mostly be used to combat mostly Russian drones.
L3Harris will not ship the system to Ukraine to be installed there, but will instead mount them on “government-provided vehicles” of undisclosed type and send them over ready-to-use. As per the available details, the first four VAMPIRES will reach the battlefield by mid-2023, with the rest to enter combat by the end of the year.
Introduced by L3Harris back in April 2022, the relatively new system was quickly included by America in the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), becoming part of a $3 billion effort to help the European country fight off the aggression. USAI also includes artillery and mortar ammunition, rounds, radars, Puma drones, rockets, but also training and maintenance.
Google News