PERSONAL MISSILES – A POWERFUL TOOL AGAINST TERROR

PERSONAL MISSILES – A POWERFUL TOOL AGAINST TERROR

It started as a basic, personal anti tank missile but today the Spike missiles developed by RAFAEL in Israel is an expanding family that has made a long way from its basic mission and turned into one of the most versatile families of missiles that are aimed at killing value targets and terrorist in their hiding places.

SPIKE NLOS on  vehicle2

The longest range version of the Spike yet is the non-line-of-sight (NLOS). This version has an effective range of 25 km. It is already used by certain units of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Like the previous versions, the launching can be made from land, air or sea.

RAFAEL is very careful about keeping the Spike as a “family” with built- in growth potential, and therefore the new NLOS version can be equipped with all the warheads that fit the shorter range members of the family.

The Spike NLOS works perfectly in conjunction with different sensors that can provide real time target data. This is especially true when the missile is getting data from unmanned air systems (UAS) – tightly closing the sensor to shooter loop.

The Spike family of missiles was unveiled in 1990. At first the Spike was dubbed an anti amour missile but soon it gained the more adequate label of a multipurpose missile. It is now considered one if not the most versatile missile in its category.

The Spike family includes: Spike-SR with a range of 800m, Spike-MR (Gill) with range of 2,500m, Spike-LR with a 4,000m range and Spike-ER (formerly known as NTD) with a range of 8,000m. The new version has a range of 25 km.

RAFAEL will not discuss any future versions at the point but said that the Spike family has a “built in” growth potential.  The accuracy of the missiles makes them as a good choice for anti terror units for ground and air launch.

The Israeli company will not specify and clients that are using the missile in the context of anti terror but sources confirm that they are used for these missions and already proved their capability and effectiveness.