L3Harris' Red Wolf makes its first MH-60 launch with Army special operations aviation

L3Harris said Tuesday, Oct. 13, that initial deliveries of its VAMPIRE counter-drone systems to the Army arrived within two months of the service's order.¹ That timing is the new part: the company's Sept. 8 release announcing that the Navy had selected it to deliver VAMPIRE already said L3Harris was also delivering VAMPIRE systems to the Army.⁴ L3Harris announced the Army order, worth up to $106 million, on Wednesday, June 10, saying the service had selected it to deliver VAMPIRE "to support urgent defense against hostile drones."²

within two monthsfrom the Army's order to initial deliveries, L3Harris says

up to $106Mvalue of the Army order L3Harris announced June 10

Not disclosedhow many systems arrived, on what date, where or under which contract

The $106 million is an up-to value for the whole order.

Source: L3Harris press releases, June 10 and Oct. 13, 2026. Data as of Oct. 13, 2026.

TGOs tgos.ioShare

The Army is buying a system already in wartime use. L3Harris developed VAMPIRE at the start of the war in Ukraine to counter Russian drones, and says military forces have logged more than 350,000 operational hours with it in European combat operations since 2023.^1–2 This year the company set up a dedicated VAMPIRE production facility in Huntsville, Ala., and said in March it had initiated high-volume production there.^{1, 3}

VAMPIRE, short for Vehicle Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Equipment, is a self-contained kit that mounts on commercial flatbeds or light tactical vehicles without permanent alterations. It fires 70mm Hydra-70 rockets that the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System turns into laser-guided munitions, and L3Harris adapted that system for drones with a proximity fuze. The company says this "significantly reduces the cost-per-engagement" compared with using high-end interceptors against relatively low-cost one-way attack drones.⁵

Lockheed Martin has awarded L3Harris a follow-on contract valued at $250 million to manufacture standard-range Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) propulsion units, L3Harris announced Oct. 12. Scott Alexander, L3Harris' president of propulsion systems in Missile Solutions, said the award came "at the highest quantity in program history." L3Harris did not give the number of motors, the contract type, the period of performance or a delivery schedule.¹

standard-range GMLRS propulsion units$250 millionactual

has been awarded a follow-on contract from Lockheed Martin

Arsenal of Freedom facility in Camden, Arkansas60,000-square-footplanned

scheduled to open later this year

funded through the Defense Production Act Title III cooperative agreement

Source: L3Harris releases, Oct. 12, 2026 and Dec. 10, 2025. As of Oct. 12, 2026.

Sources

• www.l3harris.com ↗
• www.l3harris.com ↗

TGOs tgos.ioShare

The motors will come out of a building that has yet to open. L3Harris says the contract will be fulfilled in its new 60,000-square-foot Arsenal of Freedom facility in Camden, Ark., scheduled to open later this year.¹ In December 2025, the company called its new Camden GMLRS facility "newly constructed." It said then that a GMLRS insensitive-munition motor order valued up to $200 million would be the first processed there.²

Aerojet Rocketdyne, before L3Harris acquired it, signed a $215.6 million cooperative agreement with the Defense Department to increase rocket propulsion manufacturing capacity, primarily for Javelin, Stinger and GMLRS.³ L3Harris says it is building the Camden facility as part of that agreement.⁴ In December 2025, it said the plant was funded through a Defense Production Act Title III cooperative agreement.²

L3Harris has delivered more than 35,000 GMLRS motors.⁴ It says it has doubled GMLRS motor output in recent years through advanced manufacturing techniques.¹