US to hand over all ordered Vampire systems to Ukraine in December
This month, Ukraine will receive all of the Vampire drone countermeasures ordered from the United States. We are talking about 14 units of this equipment.
This is reported with reference to a statement by the US Navy Command.
It is noted that the development, production, and delivery of the systems is being carried out as soon as possible under the leadership of the US Navy's PMA-242 Precision Weapons Development Team.
“We delivered the first four systems in only six months by leveraging an innovative contracting strategy and working diligently to keep pace with the system’s rapid development,” said Cmdr. Kevin Raspet, PMA-242 foreign military sales deputy program manager.
The US Navy also reports that the first APKWS (Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System) missiles equipped with a contactless fuze are to arrive with the new batch of Vampire. This will happen in the coming weeks.
Vampire anti-drone systems are a relatively new weapon. Its testing was first started in 2021. The mobile anti-aircraft system has a WESCAM MX-10 optoelectronic system with thermal imaging and television cameras.
Vampire is equipped with a launcher and 70-mm laser-guided APKWS missiles. The complex is portable and can be installed on various vehicles, including simple off-roaders.
However, it is known that some of the Vampire systems that Ukraine will receive are mounted on the chassis of the American Humvee multipurpose off-road vehicle.
