U.S. Army Deploys VAMPIRE Counter-UAS Weapon in Layered Air Defense Drill at Balikatan 2026.

L3Harris Technologies has confirmed that its U.S.-built VAMPIRE counter-drone system was evaluated alongside U.S. and allied forces during Exercise Balikatan 2026 in the Philippines, highlighting growing efforts to strengthen mobile short-range air defense against the expanding drone threat in the Indo-Pacific. The assessment, reported after the April 2026 exercise, demonstrated how lightweight precision-guided systems can give forward-deployed units a fast and flexible capability to defeat small UAVs and defend dispersed positions in contested environments.

Mounted on tactical vehicles, VAMPIRE combines electro-optical and infrared targeting sensors with laser-guided 70 mm rockets to engage drones and selected ground targets with minimal logistical footprint. Its integration into a wider layered air-defense network alongside IFPC, FS-LIDS, and short-range air-defense assets reflects the U.S. Army’s broader push toward multi-layered counter-UAS operations designed to protect maneuver forces and critical infrastructure against increasingly complex aerial threats.

Related topic: U.S. Scales VAMPIRE Counter-UAS Production to Boost Low-Cost Air Defense Against Drone Swarms.

L3Harris' VAMPIRE counter-drone weapon system, armed with four 70 mm laser)guided rockets and an electro-optical/infrared targeting sensor, was evaluated during Balikatan 2026 in the Philippines as part of a layered U.S. and allied air-defense architecture against small unmanned aerial threats (Picture source: L3Harris Technologies).

VAMPIRE, formally Vehicle-Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Equipment, was assigned to Bravo Battery, 1st Battalion, 51st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 7th Infantry Division/Multi-Domain Command-Pacific. U.S. Army imagery and reporting placed the system at Naval Station Leovigildo Gantioqui on April 26, with 2nd Lt. Josias Galindo briefing members of the Philippine Air Force’s 960th Air and Missile Defense Wing, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force and the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. That detail is operationally relevant because Balikatan 2026 did not simply display equipment; it tested how U.S., Philippine and Japanese air-defense personnel share procedures, target identification methods and command-and-control practices in a theater where base defense, coastal defense and short-range air defense increasingly overlap.

The weapon element is based on four 70 mm laser-guided rockets, normally associated with the BAE Systems Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System, or APKWS. NAVAIR describes APKWS II as a conversion of the unguided 2.75-inch Hydra rocket, with a guidance section inserted between the legacy 10-pound high-explosive warhead and the Mk66 Mod 4 rocket motor. The all-up round is listed at 73.77 inches in length, 2.75 inches in diameter, 32.6 pounds in weight, with a 9.55-inch wingspan, a maximum speed of 1,000 meters per second and either an M151 or Mk 152 10-pound high-explosive warhead. These dimensions explain why VAMPIRE can carry a four-round launcher on a light tactical vehicle while still offering more range and precision than most gun-based counter-drone options.

The guidance method is central to its tactical role. APKWS uses Distributed Aperture Semi-Active Laser Seeker optics located on all four guidance wings rather than a nose-mounted seeker, allowing the existing rocket warhead and fuze arrangement to be retained. After launch, the wings deploy, the seeker acquires reflected laser energy and the rocket steers toward the designated aim point. BAE Systems states that the guidance section can lock onto targets from more than 6 km away, while its 40-degree instantaneous field of regard gives the rocket some tolerance for target movement and launch geometry. In practice, this means VAMPIRE depends on a stable laser designation and clear line of sight, but it can engage moving drones or ground targets with greater precision than an unguided rocket salvo.

The counter-drone effect comes from the combination of guidance accuracy and fuzing. The U.S. Army states that VAMPIRE can carry four 70 mm laser-guided rockets with a proximity fuze, which improves lethality against aerial targets because a direct hit on a small unmanned aircraft is difficult under field conditions. L3Harris has also stated that VAMPIRE combines APKWS with its proximity fuze and Widow mission management software to engage both ground and aerial targets. The proximity fuze is important because Group 2 and Group 3 drones present small radar, infrared and visual signatures, may fly at low altitude, and may not remain on a predictable flight path long enough for gun-only defenses to solve the engagement.

The sensor and fire-control chain is built around the WESCAM MX-10D RSTA electro-optical/infrared stabilized targeting system, mounted on a telescopic mast. L3Harris describes the MX-10D RSTA on VAMPIRE as providing high-definition ISR, infrared observation and laser target designation, while Widow mission software is compliant with Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control. This is a technical point with tactical consequences: a crew can receive cueing from external sensors, slew the electro-optical/infrared sight to a sector, identify the object, designate the target and launch a guided rocket without relying on a large fixed air-defense site. The system remains constrained by visibility, weather, smoke, terrain masking and laser designation geometry, but those constraints are known and manageable when VAMPIRE is placed near airfields, ports, ammunition points, headquarters or coastal firing positions.

Balikatan 2026 also showed where VAMPIRE fits relative to other U.S. air-defense assets. During the same April 26-29 event, the U.S. Army’s 1-51 ADA demonstrated VAMPIRE, IFPC and FS-LIDS, while Echo Battery, 6th Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment, used an AN/TWQ-1 Avenger to destroy a Group 3 Griffon Aerospace MQM-170C Outlaw G2 drone with an FIM-92 Stinger missile on April 27. IFPC was described by the Army as a mobile ground-based weapon designed to defeat cruise missiles, unmanned aircraft, rotary-wing aircraft and fixed-wing aircraft using the AIM-9X Sidewinder in a surface-to-air role, while FS-LIDS supported sensing, tracking and non-kinetic defeat. VAMPIRE therefore occupies the lower-cost kinetic layer below larger missile interceptors, closer to the threat set created by reconnaissance drones, one-way attack drones and low-flying targets around fixed sites.

The industrial background is also relevant: L3Harris received a U.S. Department of Defense order in January 2023 to deliver 14 VAMPIRE systems for Ukraine, with four due by mid-2023 and ten more by the end of that year; the company later said deliveries were completed on schedule. In June 2025, L3Harris announced an additional U.S. Department of Defense contract, and in March 2026 it started high-volume VAMPIRE production in Huntsville, Alabama, using a facility designed for assembly, testing and installation on ground vehicles and containerized weapon systems. The timeline indicates that VAMPIRE has moved from urgent wartime adaptation toward a more repeatable production model.

For U.S. forces and Indo-Pacific allies, the main operational implication is magazine economics. A Patriot, NASAMS or IFPC interceptor may be necessary against cruise missiles, aircraft or higher-end aerial threats, but using such missiles against every small drone imposes an unfavorable cost exchange and risks depleting weapons needed for more demanding targets. A 70 mm laser-guided rocket does not solve the full drone problem, especially against massed attacks, electronic-warfare-resistant drones or targets outside visual and laser-designation conditions. It does, however, give commanders another engagement option between jamming, automatic cannon fire and larger surface-to-air missiles. In an archipelagic theater, where forces may need to protect small airfields, ports, radar sites and logistics nodes for limited periods, that intermediate layer is tactically useful and operationally measurable. The result is not a replacement for layered air defense, but a more granular shooter within it.

Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst.

Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.