The significance of the air defense systems provided by the West to Kyiv has been shown by a new film showing a Ukrainian-operated VAMPIRE surface-to-air missile system effectively hitting a Russian Shahed kamikaze drone.
The Ukrainian navy released the footage, which has already gone viral on open-source intelligence sites, and it shows the VAMPIRE air defense system being used in action for the first time during the country’s conflict with Russia.
A “portable kit” that can be used with a variety of vehicles, including civilian trucks, is what L3Harris Technologies calls VAMPIRE, which stands for Vehicle-Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Equipment. After installation, the VAMPIRE is capable of launching various laser-guided projectiles, including advanced precision kill weapons systems (APKWS).
Ukraine has received air defense help packages from the United States, including the VAMPIRE counter-unmanned aerial systems and missiles. A growing emphasis on military assistance from Ukraine’s Western supporters has been ensuring that the country’s air defenses are well-supplied and fully operating, which is a significant worry for Kyiv.
U.S.-made Patriot batteries and small-caliber machine guns are part of Ukraine’s vast air defense network, which targets drones in the sky. Earlier this year, Sergiy Nayev, who was in charge of Ukraine’s combined forces, said that the country’s man-portable air defense systems had sufficient ammo to withstand the subsequent few powerful attacks.
The rockets of the VAMPIRE system are much less expensive than Stinger air defense missiles and other air defense weapons, making it a cost-effective method of countering Russia’s ongoing drone barrages.
When Russia strikes vital infrastructure or big towns in Ukraine, it often uses Shahed drones, which are built in Iran. Russia has already set up shop at home to manufacture Shahed drones, and they’ve tweaked the designs to make them more difficult for Ukraine to shoot down.
