VAMPIRE: US Army receives first L3Harris counter-drone systems two months after the order

L3Harris Technologies has started delivering its VAMPIRE counter-drone systems to the US Army. According to the company’s announcement on October 13, the first units arrived within two months of the Army’s order, which is worth $106 million.

VAMPIRE is an autonomous weapon system that combines reconnaissance and precision strike against drones and other remotely piloted aircraft. L3Harris says the system has been used extensively in combat operations in Europe and has accumulated more than 350,000 hours of operation since 2023. The company did not say how many systems were delivered or when the order will be completed.

Production in Huntsville

Earlier this year L3Harris set up a new, dedicated VAMPIRE production facility in Huntsville, Alabama, in view of growing demand for counter-drone systems in the US and internationally. The facility combines assembly, testing and installation of the system on vehicles and on containerised weapon systems, with a line that can increase production according to demand. The company presents the speed of delivery as the result of close cooperation with the Army.

“From day one our team worked alongside the Army to get VAMPIRE to the field quickly,” said Chris Aebli, president of L3Harris’s Communications & Spectrum Dominance sector, adding that US forces can now protect personnel and critical sites from drone threats.

The fight against drones

The delivery is part of the layered counter-drone defence the US Army is building, one of the main themes of this year’s AUSA exhibition in Washington. At the same show the Army presented the framework through which Albania, Croatia, Japan and five other countries are joining its drone and counter-drone marketplaces.

L3Harris developed VAMPIRE with its own funds at the start of the war in Ukraine, as a cheap means against Russian drones, and its combat use in Europe is the basis of the experience the company cites today. The $106 million order was announced in June and covers an urgent operational need of the Army for protection from drones. The Huntsville facility, which L3Harris unveiled in March, has no announced details on which Army units will receive the first systems.