Comments by "Laird Cummings" (@lairdcummings9092) on "What Is the VAMPIRE Anti-UAV System?" video.

  1. The US has a long history of slapping guidance systems on existing 'dumb' munitions and creating extremely lethal new hybrid weapons. More importantly, rearming is much less costly, as packaging and shipping the necessary sub-components is vastly less expensive than shipping the entire missile. Once they arrive in Ukraine, they can be mated with Hydra rockets already in inventory - and Hydra rockets are everywhere, being one of the most common free-flight aerial rockets on the planet. As you note, cost per shot is out of line with the cost of the target, but not even remotely as costly as other systems, and drones are just too dangerous to be allowed free-reign over the battlefield.
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  2. The ammunition is bulky, so you don't have much of it. The rate of fire is low, so you have limited chances to score a kill, the range is short, so you don't have much of a combat envelope. If you want light, swift, close AA artillery defense, the smart money is on 35mm to 40m systems.
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  3. Common behavior in the US military. There's a VERY long history of slapping random parts off the shelf together to meet new needs.
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  4. 57mm AAA systems are very rare these days, as they fall exactly in the middle of the range between "Highly effective" and "Highly mobile." Simply put, 57mm ground mounts are just not useful in a fluid, mobile ground combat situation, and haven't been for many decades.
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