American L3Harris Technologies company has announced a contract on the production of 14 Vampire systems with APKWS laser-guided rockets. These are the very systems promised to Ukraine back in the military aid package from August 24, 2022, under the USAI program.
As a reminder, this program provides that weapons for Ukraine are ordered by the United States via contracts, and then they are delivered once produced.
Read more: BAE Systems Spread Incredible Video with the test of APKWS laser-guidance Kits that Will Get Ukrainian Troops
In early November, the Pentagon said the contract should be sealed "within the next few months" and the delivery term was estimated at mid-2023.
However, the statement from L3Harris mentions a bit more discouraging terms. Four Vampire launchers would be handed over by mid-2023, and 10 more by the end of the year. As noted, the system itself is a new development, the tests began only in 2021 and were still ongoing as of summer 2022.
The Vampire system is a symbiosis of a semi-active laser-guided APKWS kit which is added to an unguided 70mm Hydra air rocket, and a laser designator. In this case, this role is performed by the WESCAM MX-10 RSTA imaging system, it combines an electro-optical and infrared thermal camera, and also has a laser designation system and laser rangefinder.
Side note, another version of this imaging system, the MX-15, is used on Bayraktar TB2 attack drones. Both the rocket launcher and the imager are mounted on a truck pickup.
At the same time, a similar system for firing APKWS rockets is provided by Germany. According to the Federal Government's statement, 20 launchers. It was a new contract, too, though Berlin did not disclose the contractor. A possible candidate is German Arnold Defense that had supplied Fletcher systems armed with APKWS to the Bundeswehr in 2020. The company presented a pickup-mounted version of this launcher in 2019.
Read more: Germany Finally Sends Twenty Very Interesting APKWS Weapons to Ukraine
