The United States announced a new delivery of offensive and defensive weapons to support the Ukrainian army against Russia.
The Pentagon announced, this Wednesday, August 24, a new delivery of military assistance to the Ukrainian army for a total of 3 billion dollars.
Among the weapons that will soon be delivered, the United States will supply Ukraine with the “VAMPIRE™ Counter-Unmanned Aerial System”. A state-of-the-art system that had not been used so far in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Presented as an anti-drone system, the VAMPIRE™ can also provide offensive action by launching rockets at enemy forces on the ground.
According to the specialized site War-Zone, the VAMPIRE™ is “designed to strike targets on the ground and to eliminate low-flying aircraft, in particular drones.” The VAMPIRE™ “basically uses small missiles to fire at unmanned aerial vehicles”.
Installed on a pick-up in less than 2 hours
The VAMPIRE™ is mobile since it is designed as “a portable kit that can be installed on most vehicles with a loading platform for launching guided rockets or other laser-guided munitions”. The weapon can thus be installed in the back of a pick-up in barely two hours. It is also controlled by a simple tablet installed on the dashboard of the vehicle.
The system is guided from the vehicle.
Depending on the version, the VAMPIRE™ can prove formidable against drone attacks since “advanced video tracking can lock onto moving targets”.
Although the range of the VAMPIRE™ remains limited (5 kilometres), its arrival is welcomed in Ukraine for its ease of adaptation to different platforms, its simplicity of use and its large potential supply of ammunition as well as its fairly advanced precision capabilities.
