This article is published in Aerospace Daily & Defense Report part of Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN), and is complimentary through Apr 10, 2025. For information on becoming an AWIN Member to access more content like this, click here.
The L3Harris Vampire counter-drone system.
L3Harris later this year will conduct the first test of its platform-agnostic mobile counter-drone system at sea, after years of using it effectively in Ukraine.
The company quickly developed and deployed the Vehicle-Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Equipment (Vampire) system to launch laser-guided, 2.75-in. Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System rockets at incoming drones and sent more than a dozen of the vehicle-mounted systems to Ukraine. Vampire uses a Wescam MX-10D multisensor, multispectral targeting system on a tower to detect the drones and target the rocket, with the goal of using the relatively cheap APKWS instead of much more expensive air defense missiles.
Tom Kirkland, vice president and general manager of targeting and sensor systems at L3Harris, told reporters April 2 that the company is planning its first test of Vampire at sea in the late second quarter or early third quarter of this fiscal year. The company already has integrated the electro-optical infrared sensor system at sea, and “now we’re just moving into the full integration of the entire system onto a maritime platform.”
Vampire is in regular use in Ukraine and is effectively downing drones, though the company would not provide specifics on how many are still in use since the first deployment in 2023.
“Since that time, we have been relentless in innovating our counter unmanned technology,” Kirkland says.
The Navy is deploying new counter-UAS systems to protect its ships, including integrating the Raytheon Coyote and Anduril Roadrunner on the USS Winston Churchill guided-missile destroyer, alongside the ship’s Standard Missile-2 and Aegis system.
L3Harris also is looking beyond APKWS for Vampire, seeking to integrate fire-and-forget missiles and rockets onto it, Kirkland says.
Related Content
