US Army to purchase Israeli-made SPIKE missiles

According to Defense News, an Army Requirements Oversight Council authorized the decision “ahead of a bigger decision” regarding acquiring long-range precision munitions for its air fleets.

While Apache helicopters can currently take out targets like enemy tanks, light bunkers and personnel from some 12 km. away with the Hellfire Anti-Tank Guided Missile, the US Army wants a missile capable of striking from a longer distance.

Developed and produced by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, the SPIKE is a fifth generation precise electro-optical missile with a range of up to 25 kilometers.

Quoting Brig.-Gen. Wally Rugen, who is in charge of Army aviation modernization, Defense News stated that the Army carried out several successful tests of the Spike system over the course of 2019, firing Spike NLOS missiles from an AH-64 Apache attack helicopters both in Israel and at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.

During the tests, the Apache “hid behind 1,600 feet of craggy mountain and took take aim at a target representing a Russian Pantsir medium-range, surface-to-air missile system on the opposite slope.”

Nine missiles were successfully fired towards targets, including one towards a moving target in the dark.

Rugen would not state how many Spike missiles would be purchased or where they would be deployed.

Rafael has three missiles in the Spike family, Spike NLOS, Spike ER, Spike MR/LR and Spike SR.

The missile is capable of penetrating 39 inches of armor can be operated in either “direct attack or mid-course navigation based on target coordinates only. These modes enable defeat of long-range hidden targets, with pinpoint precision, damage assessment and the obtaining of real-time intelligence.”

It can be fired from vehicles, helicopters, ships and ground launchers, and has advanced electro-optic seekers which includes capabilities of a smart target tracker with artificial intelligence features.

The SPIKE is in use by 31 countries around the world where they are used by armies on various naval and land system platforms. More than 5,500 SPIKE missiles have already been fired around the world, both in training and in combat.