L3Harris Begins VAMPIRE Counter-Drone Deliveries to US Army

L3Harris Technologies (LHX ) has started delivering VAMPIRE counter-unmanned systems (C-UxS) to the U.S. Army in support of hostile drone defense, with initial deliveries arriving within two months of the Army’s order worth up to $106 million, according to a company announcement dated October 13, 2026.

“From day one, our team has worked side-by-side with the Army to rapidly field VAMPIRE systems,” said Chris Aebli, President of Communications & Spectrum Dominance at L3Harris. Aebli said U.S. armed forces are now equipped to reliably defend personnel and vital assets against drone threats.

L3Harris describes VAMPIRE as a self-contained weapons solution capable of delivering advanced reconnaissance and precision strike against drones and other remotely piloted aircraft. Military forces have used the technology extensively in support of European combat operations, logging more than 350,000 operational hours since 2023, according to the company.

Earlier in 2026, L3Harris established a new, dedicated VAMPIRE production facility in Huntsville, Alabama, in anticipation of growing domestic and global need for counter-UxS capabilities, the company stated.

Army Order and Huntsville Production

The U.S. Army selected L3Harris to deliver the VAMPIRE systems under an order announced June 10, 2026, to support urgent defense against hostile drones. The order is part of the United States’ layered counter-UxS defense approach.

“We’ve worked with the Army to understand their needs for new counter-UxS systems that can be quickly assembled, delivered, set-up and fired,” Tom Kirkland, President of Targeting & Sensor Systems, Communications & Spectrum Dominance, at L3Harris, said at the time of the order. Kirkland said VAMPIRE is effective at hunting and engaging drone threats affordably, enabling U.S. armed forces to sustain reliable defense of personnel and infrastructure.

L3Harris stated it developed and invested in VAMPIRE at the beginning of the war in Ukraine to provide a low-cost solution to eliminate Russian drone threats.

On March 24, 2026, the company initiated high-volume VAMPIRE production in Huntsville, describing the new line as a direct response to the need of the United States and its allies to combat the persistent drone threat posing risks to military personnel and infrastructure. The facility features a flexible assembly, testing and installation area to integrate VAMPIRE onto ground vehicles and containerized weapon systems, and the production line can adjust and increase volume as demand evolves, according to the company.

In 2025, L3Harris expanded the VAMPIRE family of systems to include specialized variants for land, maritime, air and electronic-warfare operations and integrated the system aboard GM Defense’s Infantry Squad Vehicle.

System Design and Variants

VAMPIRE stands for Vehicle Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Equipment, a self-contained, palletized guided-weapons kit designed for installation on most vehicles with a cargo bed, according to L3Harris’ official product documentation. The baseline architecture integrates three modular blocks on a single pallet: a stabilized WESCAM MX-10D RSTA or MX-15D RSTA electro-optical/infrared targeting gimbal mounted on a pneumatic telescoping mast; a four-round launcher configured for 70mm laser-guided rockets; and a command and power block running the company’s Widow Mission Management System, software that complies with the Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control (FAADC2) standard for integration into layered air-defense networks.

The system is built around the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS), which converts conventional unguided 70mm Hydra-70 rockets into laser-guided munitions by adding a guidance module in the rocket’s midsection. L3Harris states it adapted APKWS for counter-drone missions by incorporating a proximity fuze that detonates near the target and disperses fragments to disable rotors and onboard electronics, removing the need for a direct hit on small, fast-moving drones. The company lists an effective engagement range of up to approximately 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) from ground-based platforms and states that two personnel can fully install and integrate the system into a vehicle bed in approximately two hours. An internal power block on the pallet supplies power independently.

According to the documentation, the system applies artificial intelligence and machine learning at the sensor to automatically detect, classify and track small, low-signature drones while filtering environmental clutter such as clouds, birds and terrain.

The product page names three specialized variants: Stalker, a land-vehicle configuration; Black Wake, a maritime variant for crewed or uncrewed vessels; and CASKET, the Containerized Anti-drone System with Kinetic Effects Turret, a containerized configuration intended for rapid deployment to remote, infrastructure-limited locations. L3Harris states it has demonstrated the platform’s open munitions architecture through live-fire tests in Europe using Thales Belgium’s 70mm FZ275 laser-guided rockets, and reports that Widow’s core capabilities have logged more than 1.3 million hours of special mission combat support.