L3Harris Technologies reports a USD40 million contract received from the US Department of Defense (DoD) to deliver 14 Vehicular Agnostic Modular Palletised ISR Rocket Equipment (VAMPIRE) multi-purpose weapons system to strengthen Ukrainian security defence efforts.
According to the Harris press release, the portable VAMPIRE will allow Ukraine ground forces to target and shoot down enemy drones and defend against adversary ground threats. The systems ordered by DoD are tailored to provide critical defense assets to help Ukraine protect against attacks on civilian infrastructure.
Under the DoD contract, L3Harris will install VAMPIRE kits on US government-provided vehicles for agile combat support to the Ukrainian battlefield. The contract calls for L3Harris to deliver 14 VAMPIRE systems to DoD, with four delivered by mid-2023 and ten more delivered by the end of 2023. The VAMPIRE prototype, submitted to DoD in April, was selected in August as part of DoD’s USD3 billion security assistance package under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. The company began field testing in 2021 and continued range and durability tests in summer 2022.
The VAMPIRE’s mission management system integrates a WESCAM MX-10 RSTA targeting sensor with its weapons station, allowing an operator to quickly and accurately engage targets. The low-cost, highly accurate Advanced Precision Kill Weapons System rocket, selected specifically for use in Ukraine, provides increased lethality for engaging small or soft targets when combined with L3Harris’ proximity fuse, says the company.
“We’ve invested in procurement, testing and certification since August so VAMPIRE production can begin without delay,” said Luke Savoie, President, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, L3Harris.
(Image: L3Harris is under contract to provide its portable Vehicle Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Equipment to the US DoD to strengthen Ukrainian security defence efforts. The company will install VAMPIRE kits on US government-provided vehicles for agile combat support to the Ukrainian battlefield. L3Harris)
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