Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, an Israeli-based defense company, will unveil the latest installment to its Spike guided anti-armor missile series at the 2017 Paris Air Show. Known as the Spike LR II, the missile has gained significant range and lethality compared to the series’ predecessors.
The advanced multi-role projectile weighs approximately 28 pounds, is deployable from any Spike launcher, and can be fired from helicopters, ships, along with ground vehicles. When launched from ground vehicles, the LR II has a firing range of 3.5 miles, an increase of more than 35 percent when compared to the 2.5 mile range of the original Spike LR missile. The LR II had a deployment range up to 6.2 miles when launched from a helicopter using an alternative option of an RF data link.
The Spike LR II is equipped with an advanced electro-optical seeker, a high-quality uncooled IR, and advanced high-definition color day sensor. The projectile’s new seeker features smart target tracker capabilities that contain artificial intelligence (AI) components as well. The missile has two warhead configurations such as tandem HEAT (improving the missile’s armor penetration capabilities by more than 30 percent), and a multipurpose blast warhead, which contains controlled fusing (operated by the gunner), for control of desired effect. An embedded internal measurement unit (IMU) allows ground forces to target third party allocations.
Rafael’s Spike missile series is widely used throughout the world. The company has sold over 27,000 missiles and systems to almost 30 countries.
(Image Credit: Rafael)
Filed Under: M2M (machine to machine)