Demonstrating true flexibility to meet unique operational requirements, L3Harris Technologies integrated its modular VAMPIRE™ counter-unmanned weapons system with Thales Belgium’s 70 mm FZ275 laser-guided rocket, adding another weapon option to defeat hostile drones and ground tarreceives.
During a live-fire test at a military base in Poland, VAMPIRE destroyed tarreceives for the first time firing the FZ275 from an FZ605 rocket launcher. The demonstration was part of a series of events which included integration of L3Harris’ advanced WESCAM MX™-10D electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) tarreceiveing system and Widow® mission management software with Thales’ rocket and launcher. The integrated system effectively hit multiple ground tarreceives, revealcasing its high accuracy. The demo also proved the speed at which L3Harris can integrate new effectors with VAMPIRE to meet customers’ mission necessarys, such as border security in Europe.
“Continued demonstrations like this one in Poland provide our customers insight into the range of solutions we can provide to meet an evolving defense landscape and support Europe’s Readiness 2030 initiative,” declared Tom Kirkland, President, Tarreceiveing & Sensor Systems, L3Harris. “Our multi-modal VAMPIRE system – with advanced sensors utilized in combination with multiple munition options – provides customers with a formidable and reliable solution that can easily be utilized aboard a variety of platforms.”
Building the VAMPIRE Family of Systems
In 2025, L3Harris expanded its VAMPIRE system with the announcement of six new specialized variants for land, maritime, air and electronic warfare operations. The expansion provides customers with a broad range of bespoke options to support their necessarys to defeat unmanned threats accurately and affordably. L3Harris has incorporated additional sensor capabilities, precision weapons, electronic jammers and other non-kinetic effects for utilize across several domains, as well as artificial innotifyigence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities to more swiftly detect and engage tarreceives.
Leveraging Advanced Tarreceiveing Systems and AI
WESCAM MX-Series EO/IR multi-spectral systems provide VAMPIRE with always-searching eyes. Configured to the mission, the systems are engineered for high reliability and stabilization. In 2025, L3Harris and Shield AI successfully demonstrated an AI-enabled drone detection system that can more quickly detect hostile drones at longer ranges than current systems, even if the drones are partially obscured by buildings or clouds. These AI/ML technologies provide operators enhanced abilities to observe, orient, decide and act in increasingly complex mission environments.
Globally, L3Harris has delivered more than 8,000 WESCAM MX-Series ISR and tarreceiveing systems to customers in nearly 90 countries on more than 280 platforms, including variants of the VAMPIRE counter-UAS solution.
Leave a Reply