US to provide Ukraine with pickup truck rocket launchers

 Business Insider:

Ukrainian forces will soon be able to turn regular pickup trucks and other vehicles into mobile rocket launchers able to take out Russian drones thanks to a new item in the latest US weapons package for Ukraine.

The VAMPIRE kit from American weapons maker L3Harris is included in the $3 billion US aid package to Ukraine that the Biden administration announced Wednesday. The package, the largest to date, also includes artillery and air defense support, among other systems.

According to the manufacturer, the Vehicle-Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Equipment (VAMPIRE) kit includes a "suitcase-type," laser-guided weapons system that can be easily loaded into the cargo bed of a truck and set up by a two-person crew. The weapon is effective for striking both ground and airborne targets.

In Ukraine, the system is likely to serve as a counter to unmanned aerial systems, Defense News reported Thursday, citing remarks made at a press briefing by Colin Kahl, undersecretary of defense for policy.

"The VAMPIRE system itself is a counter-UAS system," Kahl told reporters this week. "It is a kinetic system that uses small missiles essentially to shoot UAVs out of the sky."
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There is more at the link above including a picture of the system on the back of a truck.  It tells you something about the impact of drones on the face of battle in the Ukraine war.

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