Posts Tagged ‘VAMPIRE rocket system’

VAMPIRE: America’s New Discount Technical Rocket System

Saturday, December 10th, 2022

Ever since the Toyota War, when Chad’s cheap, fast-moving force of Toyota-based technicals left $1.5 billion worth of Libyan Soviet equipment burning in the desert, it’s been obvious that such forces could be very cost-effective units in future conflicts. The furious rate of smart-munition depletion in the Russo-Ukrainian War also demonstrated the need for cheaper alternatives to Stinger and Javelin.

Enter the VAMPIRE.

L3Harris’ Vehicle-Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Equipment (VAMPIRE) is a portable kit that can be installed on most vehicles with a cargo bed for launching of the advanced precision kill weapons system (APKWS) or other laser-guided munitions.

This L3Harris suitcase-type APKWS launcher and designator kit provides a rapid solution for arming non-tactical vehicles (NTV) and a variety of tactical vehicles, while integrating components to customer-specific specifications. Our capability provides ground forces the ability to engage targets beyond the range of weapons normally carried by SOF and light forces.

Modular and palletized, the VAMPIRE system offers a low-cost and effective weapon deployment solution.

VAMPIRE FEATURES

  • Designed to complement the low-cost, low-signature and availability of common NTVs and fit in any pickup or vehicle with a cargo bed
  • Installation can be completed in approximately two hours by two people using common tools
  • Can be configured to meet customer-specific requirements
  • Everything is on the pallet. Power supply eliminates the need for a 24-volt alternator on the vehicle
  • The WESCAM MX-10™- RSTA independent stabilized sighting system provides ISR overmatch
  • Can be equipped with APKWS or other laser-guided munitions

    • The Fat Electrician (who you may remember from his Sky Warden video) has an amusing rundown:

    Takeaways:

  • “What is it it is literally a DIY kit that shows up on a pallet, and according
    to the brochure, two men in two hours can install it on any pickup truck, giving them what amounts to a miniature version of HIMARS.” More like a miniature MLRS.

  • “As of August 22nd 2022 America is going to start exporting these to countries that are allies or entities that have America’s interest in mind.”

  • “America’s been sending out a lot of Javelin and Stinger missiles lately, and
    those are really expensive, so we made this as a cheaper alternative, and I’m not gonna lie, it’s way fucking cooler.”

  • “It looks like they gave Xzibit a DOD contract for the deadliest episode of Pimp My Ride. He found out the DOD liked guns and he put the entire Second Amendment in the bed of the pickup.”
  • “I keep saying any pickup truck. We all know I’m talking about Toyota…that is the official truck of guerrilla warfare.”
  • “This thing can shoot four Hydra 70 rockets. Now the reason they chose Hydra 70 rockets is because they’re probably the cheapest munition that America uses” at $2,799 a pop. Hydra 70 tops out at around 17 pounds, though most commonly around 10 pounds, so they’re not going to have the kinetic penetrating power of a 120mm APFSDS round to take out a tank, but are probably sufficient to take out a lot of other targets.
  • “The downside of that being they’re considered a dumb munition because you can’t actually guide them…However, the Hydra rockets being used with the VAMPIRE system are going to be equipped with a retrofit guidance module which is going to allow the Rockets to be laser guided.”
  • Unit cost with the guidance system is about $22,000, which makes it an order of magnitude less expensive than Javelin or Stinger.
  • So a soldier can “pull up to the side of the battlefield, throw up his Periscope launch four missiles, and take back off all without even getting out of the air conditioning of the cab because he can do it from the computer in the dash.”
  • Can also take out drones.
  • “In conclusion, I’m sure we’re gonna start seeing these in the news a lot more and, it’s probably only a matter of time until some crazy fucker from Texas or Florida acquires one of these mounted on the back of their El Camino, and then uses it to go hunt hogs or iguanas. And that’s the news article I’m looking forward to.”

    • When Russia bogged down trying to take Kiev, I thought that a raiding force of 100 or so technicals would be perfect to destroy those long lines of trucks (assuming they could be equipped with wheels wide enough to make it across the infamous rasputitsa mud). A system like VAMPIRE, with an ability to take out both light armored vehicles and helicopters, moves us significantly closer to making such a force a lot more practical.

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