The U.S. Plans To Supply VAMPIREs to Ukrainian Vampires

The $3 billion arms package that President Joe Biden announced for Ukraine on Aug. 24 includes a new weapons system called the VAMPIRE. The Vehicle-Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Equipment system (we wonder how many hours of marketing studies are spent in coming up with names like that?—ed.) is essentially a portable rocket launcher firing laser-guided missiles that can be bolted onto the back of any flatbed truck. “The Vampire system itself is a counter-UAS (Unmanned Aircraft System) system,” said Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl at an Aug. 24 press briefing. “It is a kinetic system that uses small missiles essentially to shoot UAVs out of the sky.”