The German army has finalized its annual training in firing of Rafael’s SPIKE LR ATGM missile. Spike long-range (LR) missile, designated by the Bundeswehr as the Mehrrollenfähige Leichte Lenkflugkörpersystem (Multirole-capable Light Anti-tank Missile System: MELLS). The firing was performed in Germany under adverse weather conditions, and included the firing of as many as 54 live SPIKE LR missiles by German Army gunners from the new SPIKE ICLU launchers (Integrated Control Lunch Unit), which includes a new digital user interface. During the training, German personnel launched SPIKE LR missiles in complex firing scenarios, including engagements in BLOS (Beyond-Line-of-Sight: targets hidden behind cover), retargeting midflight scenarios, firing in total darkness in IR (infrared) mode, as well as firing in day mode under harsh conditions of intense rain and strong winds. Both launchers and gunners performed flawlessly and all 54 missiles hit their targets successfully.
The SPIKE LR is a 5th generation precision guided missile system designed for the modern warfare with multiplatform, multipurpose capabilities including F&F / Fire, observe and update capabilities as well as abilities of third party target allocation (launch to grid coordinates in no line of sight) based on an internal IMU. The SPIKE LR2 light weight, enhanced lethality and great standoff of 5.5 (ground) to 10 (air) km makes it the ideal munition for infantry as well as light attack helicopters. The SPIKE LR2 was originally designed to be launched by the existing 29 nations SPIKE LR launchers. SPIKE is in production in Europe by EUROSPIKE, through major EU defence OEM‘s as well as numerous EU SME‘s and is already integrated and qualified to a large variety of terrestrial and aerial EU armed forces platforms, including armored vehicles, attack helicopters and naval vessels. Their lofted trajectories enable the warhead to strike the target at its most vulnerable location with pinpoint precision. All of the SPIKE Family members have a low life-cycle cost, due to high reliability and operational, logistic support and production commonality between members.
SPIKE missile family is an Israeli fire-and-forget anti-tank guided missile and anti-personnel missile with a tandem-charge HEAT warhead, currently in its fourth-generation. It was developed and designed by the Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. It is available in man-portable, vehicle-launched, and helicopter-launched variants. As well as engaging and destroying targets within the line-of-sight of the launcher (“fire-and-forget”), some variants of the missile are capable of making a top attack profile through a “fire, observe and update” guidance method (essentially lock-on after launch (LOAL)); the operator tracking the target, or switching to another target, optically through the trailing fiber-optic wire (or RF link in the case of the vehicle-mounted, long-range NLOS variant) while the missile is climbing to altitude after launch. SPIKE missile family sold to 31 countries around the world, with over 30,000 missiles supplied, consists of missiles suited for land, air and naval platforms, multiple ranges and a variety of targets.This is similar to the lofted trajectory flight profile of the US FGM-148 Javelin.
