AUSA 2025: With its VAMPIRE system, L3Harris turns U.S. Army’s light vehicle into a drone killer.

At AUSA 2025, L3Harris unveiled its VAMPIRE counter-drone weapon station integrated on GM Defense’s Infantry Squad Vehicle, blending mobility with precision strike capability. The combination gives U.S. light forces a fast-deploying, low-cost option to engage small drones and ground threats up to six kilometers away.

Washington, D.C, Oct 16: During AUSA 2025, L3Harris showcased its VAMPIRE counter-drone weapon station mounted on GM Defense’s Infantry Squad Vehicle. The compact pallet carried a four-tube 70 mm rocket launcher and a telescoping mast crowned by a WESCAM MX-10D RSTA electro-optical turret, all tied into L3Harris’ Widow mission management system. In this configuration, VAMPIRE can fire laser-guided APKWS rockets and designate targets for other shooters, offering a low-cost way to hit small drones and ground threats out to roughly six kilometers when paired with L3Harris’ proximity fuze.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link

The L3Harris VAMPIRE on GM Defense’s Infantry Squad Vehicle delivers mobile counter-drone and precision strike capability with laser-guided 70 mm rockets and advanced electro-optical targeting (Picture source: Army Recognition Group).

The U.S. Army’s nine-passenger ISV is derived from the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 with about 90 percent commercial components, a choice that eases sustainment and speeds upgrades. It is purpose-built for rapid deployment, able to air-drop from C-17 or C-130, ride inside CH/MH-47 and CH-53, or fly as a UH-60 sling load, which makes a VAMPIRE-equipped ISV a truly expeditionary counter-UAS node for light forces.

A second ISV variant, the two-seat Multi-Mission and Logistics model, was designed with a large rear cargo bed for mission kits ranging from electronic warfare to C-UAS. Weighing under 5,000 pounds with a 3,200-pound payload, it offers the space, power and structure needed for palletized weapons like VAMPIRE without sacrificing off-road agility or the roll-over protection demanded by Army safety standards. What can be seen on the AUSA floor tracks closely with that concept, turning the cargo bay into a mobile kill box that can be reconfigured in minutes.

On the sensor side, the WESCAM MX-10D RSTA brings stabilized, high-definition day and thermal imaging with continuous zoom, a short-wave infrared channel for See-Spot, an eye-safe laser rangefinder, and an optional laser designator. The four-axis gimbal and internal IMU deliver precise geo-location, which, when married to FAADC2-compliant battle management in Widow, allows the crew to detect, track and hand off targets across the air defense network. For dismounted patrols or convoy screens, that means one ISV can find and fix a target while a second vehicle launches the shot, or a third platform engages from another axis.

This pairing gives light infantry a hunter-killer package that can sprint off-road, set up quickly, and prosecute Group 1 to Group 3 drones with precision rockets rather than expensive interceptors. The six-kilometer engagement envelope with proximity-fuzed APKWS is sufficient for most quadcopters, fixed-wing kamikaze drones and low-and-slow ISR platforms. Because VAMPIRE is reloadable in minutes and can designate for other shooters, commanders gain both organic fires and a distributed sensor that expands the reach of adjacent air-defense assets without adding heavy logistics.

U.S. Army officials in Europe recently warned the service is behind the drone curve, a reality underscored by the daily attrition of forces and infrastructure in Ukraine and the rapid spread of one-way attack UAVs across the Middle East and maritime theaters. Fielding a vehicle-agnostic, low-cost counter-UAS kit that can ride with light units and tie into FAADC2 is a pragmatic step to close that gap, and L3Harris says VAMPIRE has already been in combat use since 2023. The company is also pushing specialized variants like Stalker XR for land, Black Wake for maritime security, and electronic-warfare “Killcode,” signaling an industrial push to meet the surge in demand for affordable air defense.