Rafael based in Haifa, Israel, manufacture the Spike family of
anti-armour weapons. The weapons are lightweight fire-and-forget
anti-tank missiles and use electro-optical and fibre-optic
technologies. The systems are used by infantry soldiers, special
rapid reaction forces, ground forces and helicopter aircrew.
The Spike family includes: Spike-SR with a range of 800m, Spike-MR
(Gill) with range of 2,500m, Spike-LR with 4,000m range and
Spike-ER (formerly known as NTD Dandy) with a range of 8,000m.
Spike-LR and Spike-ER can also be fitted on light combat vehicles
and a package for mounting Spike-ER on helicopters is also
available. The Spike missile system is
currently in production and in service with the Israeli Defence
Force and with the Singapore Armed Forces.
In October 2003, the Israel Defence Force (IDF) awarded a
production contract for Spike C4I, the Spike-ER system fitted with
networking capability. The Spike launcher will be fitted with a
variant of the Azimuth Comet Global Positioning System (GPS),
laptop computer and VHF datalink.
MISSILE SYSTEM
Spike-MR and Spike-LR have the same firing post. The firing post
consists of the Command Launch Unit (CLU), the thermal imaging
sight and a tripod.
The system is made ready to fire in less than 30 seconds. The
soldier acquires the target and lays the cross hairs of the sight
on the aim point on the target using either the day sight with a
10x magnification and 5° field of view or the clip-on thermal
imaging night sight with wide and narrow fields of view.
In fire-and-forget mode, the soldier activates the missile, locking
the tracker on the target and pushes the Fire button to launch. The
missile automatically propels itself towards the target without any
additional interaction and this fire-and-forget capability allows
the soldier the option of relocating to a new firing position or to
reload immediately for the next engagement. Reloading takes less
than 15 seconds.
After launch the missile follows a lofted trajectory and as it
approaches the target it dives down to impact the target. The
lofted trajectory and the tandem high explosive warhead enables the
missile to penetrate tanks equipped with explosive reactive armour
(ERA).
ANTI-ARMOUR MISSILE
The missile has four rectangular fins for aerodynamic control at
the rear, and four wings at just over halfway from nose to tail on
the length of the body. They unfold as the missile leaves the
launch canister.
The guidance system in the nose of the Spike missile comprises a
charge-coupled device (CCD) and imaging infrared (IIR) seeker. The
imaging infrared provides higher sensitivity and improved thermal
background rejection characteristics for all weather day and night
operation.
SPIKE-MR (GILL)
Spike-MR, the medium range version, is a portable fire-and-forget
anti-armour missile system with a range up to 2.5km. It can have
the option of the additional Fire, Observe and Update mode of
operation if required.
SPIKE-LR
Spike-LR is a portable anti-armour weapon system with a range of up
to 4km, which can be operated in fire-and-forget mode and in fire,
observe and update mode using the fibre-optic data link.
Spike-LR is equipped with a fibre-optic data link guidance system,
which sends commands to the missile from the launch system and
receives, into the gunner's field of view, images from the seeker.
The gunner can update his aim point while the missile is in flight
using the fibre optic link. As well as update target information,
the datalink allows the gunner to switch targets and also receive
real-time intelligence and perform battle damage assessment. The
Spike system can work in non line-of-sight (NLOS) mode allowing the
gunner to operate from a covered position. Spike-LR, which can also
be installed on light combat vehicles, can be used to engage tanks,
armoured vehicles, hardened shelters and low flying slow targets
such as helicopters.
SPIKE-ER
The extended range (8km) version, Spike-ER, also has a larger
warhead. It is designed for mounting on light combat vehicles but
can also be removed and fitted onto a tripod. The vehicle package
includes the missile in its canister, a remotely controlled turret
with target acquisition system and electronics and gunner's station
with multi-function display, control panel and handgrip.
A bi-directional fibre-optic datalink provides Spike-ER with a Fire
and Steer mode, in addition to the other two modes. This means that
the gunner does not need to lock-on to the target before launch,
but can choose the target after launch and steer the missile to the
target's most vulnerable point or hand over to
fire-and-forget.
A Spike-ER launcher has been developed for helicopters. The
four-round launcher requires no modifications to the helicopter,
other than software integration. It can be fitted to a variety of
helicopters, including AH-64 Apache (which can carry 16 missiles),
AH-1S Cobra, A-129, MD-500, Mi-24 and others.
