diff --git a/tycho-core/src/main/java/org/eclipse/tycho/p2resolver/InstallableUnitResolver.java b/tycho-core/src/main/java/org/eclipse/tycho/p2resolver/InstallableUnitResolver.java
index 6edba2fa89..ebf25dac8c 100644
--- a/tycho-core/src/main/java/org/eclipse/tycho/p2resolver/InstallableUnitResolver.java
+++ b/tycho-core/src/main/java/org/eclipse/tycho/p2resolver/InstallableUnitResolver.java
@@ -275,7 +275,7 @@ private static IInstallableUnit findUnits(Unit unitReference, IQueryable<IInstal
 
     private static IQueryResult<IInstallableUnit> findUnit(Unit unitReference, IQueryable<IInstallableUnit> units)
             throws TargetDefinitionSyntaxException {
-        Version version = parseVersion(unitReference);
+        VersionRange version = parseVersion(unitReference);
 
         // the createIUQuery treats 0.0.0 version as "any version", and all other versions as exact versions
         IQuery<IInstallableUnit> matchingIUQuery = QueryUtil.createIUQuery(unitReference.getId(), version);
@@ -285,9 +285,9 @@ private static IQueryResult<IInstallableUnit> findUnit(Unit unitReference, IQuer
         return queryResult;
     }
 
-    private static Version parseVersion(Unit unitReference) throws TargetDefinitionSyntaxException {
+    private static VersionRange parseVersion(Unit unitReference) throws TargetDefinitionSyntaxException {
         try {
-            return Version.parseVersion(unitReference.getVersion());
+            return VersionRange.create(unitReference.getVersion());
         } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
             throw new TargetDefinitionSyntaxException(NLS.bind("Cannot parse version \"{0}\" of unit \"{1}\"",
                     unitReference.getVersion(), unitReference.getId()), e);
diff --git a/tycho-targetplatform/src/main/java/org/eclipse/tycho/targetplatform/TargetDefinitionFile.java b/tycho-targetplatform/src/main/java/org/eclipse/tycho/targetplatform/TargetDefinitionFile.java
index e4bd84a9db..42fa355732 100644
--- a/tycho-targetplatform/src/main/java/org/eclipse/tycho/targetplatform/TargetDefinitionFile.java
+++ b/tycho-targetplatform/src/main/java/org/eclipse/tycho/targetplatform/TargetDefinitionFile.java
@@ -755,6 +755,9 @@ private static IULocation parseIULocation(Element dom) {
         for (Element unitDom : getChildren(dom, "unit")) {
             String id = unitDom.getAttribute("id");
             String version = unitDom.getAttribute("version");
+			if (version == null || version.isBlank()) {
+				version = "0.0.0";
+			}
             units.add(new Unit(id, version));
         }
         final List<Repository> repositories = new ArrayList<>();