Jane Edwards 
L3Harris Technologies has expanded its VAMPIRE counter-unmanned aircraft system with the launch of specialized variants for land, air, maritime and electronic warfare operations.
The company said Thursday the new variants seek to demonstrate its efforts to respond to the needs of the Department of Defense and its allies in defeating small unmanned airborne systems.
“VAMPIRE users have successfully shot down hundreds of enemy drones,” said Jon Rambeau, president of integrated mission systems at L3Harris. “Compared to traditional missile systems, VAMPIRE greatly reduces the cost per effect to defend against drone attacks.”
VAMPIRE System & Its New Variants
VAMPIRE is a self-contained platform that delivers reconnaissance and precision strike capabilities against remotely piloted aircraft and drones. It is part of the company’s Counter Unmanned Systems initiative and has supported European combat operations since 2023.
The counter-drone technology features additional sensor capabilities, electronic jammers, precision weapons and non-kinetic effectors for use across domains. It uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to quickly detect, engage and counter small unmanned threats.
The expanded family of systems now includes VAMPIRE Stalker XR; VAMPIRE Black Wake; VAMPIRE Dead Wing; VAMPIRE Containerized Anti-drone System with Kinetic Effects Turret, or CASKET; VAMPIRE Base Anti-Drone Turrent, or BAT; and VAMPIRE Killcode.
VAMPIRE BAT uses automatic weapons and non-kinetic effects to protect critical infrastructure and military installations, while VAMPIRE Killcode is the electronic warfare variant that uses jammers to disrupt threats.
