US Navy Selects L3Harris to Deliver VAMPIRE Counter-Drone Systems

L3Harris Technologies (LHX ) said on September 8, 2026, that the U.S. Navy had selected the company to deliver VAMPIRE counter-unmanned systems (C-UxS) in support of what the company’s announcement described as the United States’ growing integrated C-UxS defense architecture. The release, datelined Melbourne, Florida, disclosed no contract value, quantity, or delivery schedule for the Navy award.

According to the announcement, the VAMPIRE system is a self-contained weapons solution that delivers advanced reconnaissance and precision strike against drones and remotely piloted platforms across domains.

Tony Calderon, President of Targeting & Sensor Systems in the company’s Communications & Spectrum Dominance segment, addressed the maritime application directly. “VAMPIRE is a flexible and effective system that meets the unique requirements of the U.S. Navy for littoral C-UxS defense,” Calderon said, adding that L3Harris is engineering new capabilities to adapt to customer missions and ruggedizing VAMPIRE against the environmental stresses of maritime environments.

The company’s VAMPIRE family already includes a maritime configuration. According to L3Harris’ VAMPIRE capability page, the Black Wake variant is designed to reduce the cost curve against small drones or fast attack watercraft and can be used aboard crewed or uncrewed vessels.

System Design

VAMPIRE stands for Vehicle-Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Equipment. The company describes it as a portable kit that can be installed on most vehicles with a cargo bed for launching APKWS or other laser-guided munitions. The system mounts a WESCAM MX-10D RSTA electro-optical/infrared stabilized targeting sensor on a telescopic mast, providing fully digital, high-definition extended-range ISR and laser target designation. VAMPIRE runs the Widow Mission Management System, which is compliant with Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control (FAADC2) and features a modular plug-in design for the quick addition of sensors, effectors, radio management, navigation and moving maps.

L3Harris says the expanded VAMPIRE family uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to more swiftly detect, engage and defeat small and elusive unmanned threats. Beyond Black Wake, the family includes Stalker XR, an upgraded land vehicle system with a larger weapons cache and extended-range munitions; Dead Wing, a counter-unmanned aerial system deployed from aircraft in flight; CASKET, a containerized self-contained configuration for rapid deployment to remote locations; BAT, a base anti-drone turret using automatic weapons and non-kinetic effects to protect military bases and critical infrastructure; and Killcode, an electronic-warfare variant that uses jammers to disrupt or disable threats in lieu of precision-guided munitions. The company first detailed the six-variant family in an October 2025 announcement.

Operational History and Production

Military forces have used VAMPIRE extensively in support of European combat operations, logging more than 350,000 operational hours since 2023, according to a June 2026 company announcement of a related U.S. Army order. L3Harris developed and invested in VAMPIRE at the beginning of the war in Ukraine to provide a low-cost solution to eliminate Russian drone threats. In its October 2025 variants release, the company said VAMPIRE users had successfully shot down hundreds of enemy drones, and Jon Rambeau, President of Integrated Mission Systems, said at the time that VAMPIRE greatly reduces the cost per effect to defend against drone attacks compared to traditional missile systems.

L3Harris said on March 24, 2026, that it had initiated high-volume VAMPIRE production at a new line in Huntsville, Alabama, a production announcement that described the move as a direct response to the United States and its allies’ need to combat the persistent drone threat. The facility features a flexible assembly, testing and installation area to integrate VAMPIRE onto ground vehicles and containerized weapon systems, and the company says the line can adjust and increase volume as demand evolves.

The Navy selection follows the U.S. Army’s June 10, 2026 selection of L3Harris to deliver VAMPIRE systems, an order the company valued at up to $106 million as part of the U.S. layered C-UxS defense approach. L3Harris cautioned in that release that statements about order values are forward-looking and involve risks and uncertainties. Tom Kirkland, President of Targeting & Sensor Systems, said the company had worked with the Army on counter-UxS systems that can be “quickly assembled, delivered, set-up and fired,” and said VAMPIRE is effective at hunting and engaging drone threats affordably.

Layered Counter-UxS Portfolio

The Navy announcement also referenced Wraith Shield, a software capability L3Harris unveiled earlier this year and detailed in a May 2026 company editorial. Developed with DataShapes AI, the software turns widely fielded tactical radios into mobile, AI-enabled radio-frequency sensing and effects platforms intended to defeat small drones. L3Harris plans to deploy Wraith Shield on the RF-9820S Compact Team Radio, also designated the AN/PRC-171, and its embeddable RF-9820S-ER version later in 2026, with a future software upgrade planned across the 100,000-plus Wraith-capable radios fielded by militaries today, including the AN/PRC-158C, AN/PRC-163 and AN/PRC-167.

According to both the Navy release and the Wraith Shield editorial, the software provides a radio-as-a-sensor capability that can be incorporated with VAMPIRE and Drone Guardian systems to deliver a layered defense against unmanned threats. In that construct, Wraith Shield targets smaller drones by disrupting their functionality while VAMPIRE and Drone Guardian focus on larger threats.