A Russian drone attack has destroyed a Ukrainian military pickup truck carrying a US-made short-range air defense system, according to a video released on Thursday by the Defense Ministry in Moscow.
The engagement took place near the city of Ochakov in Ukraine’s southern Nikolaev Region, the ministry reported in a statement. A Russian first-person-view drone was used to strike a Humvee armored vehicle carrying an APKWS II system operated by Ukrainian special operations forces, it added.
APKWS II – which stands for AGR-20 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System – is a conversion of Hydra 70 unguided rockets which adds laser guidance to the projectiles. The rockets have a reported range of up to 14km, but the guided version is designed to be shot at targets within the 1km to 5km range.
The version destroyed in Nikolaev appears to be the Vehicle-Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Equipment (VAMPIRE). The system was developed by the US defense contractor L3Harris and includes a rocket launcher with four tubes and a mast-mounted sensor ball, complete with a self-contained power source.
The kit can be mounted on a flatbed truck to turn the vehicle into a mobile platform that gives special operations and light forces the ability to engage targets beyond the normal range of their weapons, according to the producer.
The Pentagon first supplied such weapons to Ukraine as part of a $3 billion aid package announced in August 2022. The stated goal was to counter larger Russian drones.