On the 31st anniversary of Ukraine’s independence, the President of the United States announced a military aid of $2.98 billion to Ukraine. The package includes a system that was not seen on the battlefield. It is a 70 mm Hydra rocket converted into Precision Kill Weapon System to counter UAVs.
The Pentagon announced the details of a system it also plans to acquire; L3Harris’ Vehicle-Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Equipment (VAMPIRE).
VAMPIRE is a portable kit installed on most vehicles with a cargo bed to launch advanced precision kill weapons systems (APKWS) or other laser-guided munitions. The Vampire is a kinetic system that shoots UAVs out of the sky with a small missile. This suitcase-style APKWS launcher and designator kit from L3Harris provides a quick solution for arming non-tactical vehicles (NTV).
The AGR-20 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) is a design that combines unguided Hydra 70 rockets with a laser guidance kit to create precision-guided munitions (PGMs). APKWS is roughly one-third the cost and one-third the weight of the current laser-guided weapon inventory, has a lower yield more suitable for avoiding collateral damage and takes one-quarter the time to load and unload for ordnance personnel. The APKWS configuration enables using existing Hydra 70 system warheads without needing a laser seeker in the missile nose. A proximity fuse was installed on an APKWS-equipped rocket, which destroyed a Class 2 UAS. Because the rocket’s laser guidance activates on launch, there is no need to lock on to the target before launch.
