U.S. Is Sending Ukraine VAMPIRE Systems To Turn Pickups Into Missile Launchers

Ukrainian forces are set receive a counter-air and surface-to-surface precision-guided missile system that they can use from the back of a pickup truck, an SUV or a trailer.

The image of pickup truck-mounted heavy weapons is a familiar one for Americans who’ve seen nearly two decades worth of videos and stills of Taliban and ISIS fighters utilizing pickups and SUVs much like the one above. So ubiquitous did they become that U.S. Special Forces began using them in the same fashion in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

But the heavy machine guns or even shoulder-fired SAMs they’ve long sported aren’t as versatile as the Vehicle-Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Equipment (VAMPIRE) system that the U.S. is sending to Ukraine. This system, made by defense contractor L3 Harris, will be delivered as a kit which can be placed in pickup truck bed, on a trailer or a reinforced SUV roof.

According to the company, it can be mounted in as little as two hours using standard tools and can be operated by a single person. The kit combines a four-tube rocket launcher, an electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor ball on a telescoping mast and a fire-control tablet. These can work with Advanced Precision Kill Weapons System (APKWS) missiles or other laser-guided munitions. APKWS is a laser-guided Hydra 70mm rocket system designed and manufactured by BAE Systems.

While better known as an air-launched system from helicopters like the Army’s AH-64 Apache, the Marines’ AH-1Z Viper or fixed wing aircraft like the Air Force’s A-10 and F-16, APKWS is also being adapted to airborne drones, several military ground vehicles and now, pickups. APKWS missiles are reportedly capable of engaging stationary and moving targets at ranges up to approximately three miles (5 km) from rotary-wing aircraft or seven miles (11 km) for fixed-wing aircraft depending on aircraft speed and altitude.

Since the bed of a pickup truck won’t offer much in the way or altitude or speed, the range of VAMPIRE-controlled APKWS is probably in the region of one-quarter mile (0.4 km) to a mile (1.6 km) depending on the relative elevation of the shooter and target. Range for the other laser-guided munitions VAMPIRE can employ would theoretically be similar.

While that might limit surface to surface strikes to line-of-sight or a bit beyond, L3 did not confirm or deny whether VAMPIRE’s fire control can work with and receive targeting data from offboard sensors.

If such a cooperative capability is possible, using Vampire in combination with manned aircraft or drones could enable the Ukrainians to greatly expand targeting beyond the range of the WESCAM MX-10 EO/IR independent sighting system enclosed within the sensor ball.

VAMPIRE is also expected to be used to shoot-down Russian drones. The APKWS Hydra or other laser-guided missiles it may employ could use proximity fuzes to disable the targets they do not hit directly. In fact, the Pentagon describes VAMPIRE primarily as a counter-drone system. In contrast, L3 is keen to emphasize the versatility of VAMPIRE.

“It’s a low-cost, rapidly deployable weapon system that … gives ground forces the ability to quickly and accurately engage targets on the ground or in the air. So no, it’s not just for CUAS, it’s multi-purpose,” L3 spokesman Paul Swiergosz affirms.

Ukrainian forces have already adapted similar PGM systems like the Czech Republic’s RM-70 VAMPIR 122mm Multiple Launch Rocket System for anti-drone use. However, the Czech system, designed by Excalibur Army, is generally placed on a large military vehicle.

L3’s system mounts to a pickup truck bed in a configuration similar to other vehicle sensor/weapon mounts. Swiergosz says it incorporates a stabilizer/leveling apparatus but can operate in significant off-level attitudes. “We’ve done a lot of testing in unprepared, austere locations and determined there isn’t a need for finer leveling adjustments.”

VAMPIRE is self-powered via an integrated battery so it doesn’t have to rely on a vehicle’s charging system to provide the 24 volts it requires. Fire control/targeting is exercised via a tablet interface which can be mounted inside the pickup or other vehicle cab and used by an operator with basic training. The interface is tailorable based on vehicle and ruggedization requirements and L3 has several options available.

The ability to put L3’s VAMPIRE on a variety of different platforms including civilian trucks should make it harder for Russian forces to target and in turn offer the Ukrainians plentiful alternatives to distribute the fires it can bring to bear across different vehicles.

Given the creativity that the Ukrainians have consistently demonstrated, it’s quite possible they could seek to temporarily adapt VAMPIRE to stationary platforms like buildings or towers, increasing its surface strike or drone interception range.

The details of VAMPIRE’s inclusion in the $3 billion aid package for Ukraine which the Pentagon announced Wednesday are not yet fleshed out, the company told me. L3 has not received a formal contract, exact order numbers or requirements from DoD.

“We expect those requests will be communicated in the coming days so a contract can be signed and when it is we can immediately begin work to support this important security assistance initiative,” Swiergosz said. “Supply chain issues notwithstanding, we are very confident we can deliver within the nine-month delivery window cited by DoD yesterday.”

Ukraine would surely like to take delivery of VAMPIRE kits as soon as possible given the pressure Russian forces are putting on it with drones (now Iranian supplied) and intermediate range artillery/missiles. The system would not be entirely new as the Ukrainians are already familiar with other L3-supplied equipment from advanced tactical radios and SATCOM terminals to night-vision and electro-optical sensors.

VAMPIRE could be a useful tool employed cleverly by Ukraine. The U.S. just has to get it there.