Israel’s New Spike Missile Was Built for Electronic Warfare

Maya Carlin

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The latest iteration of the Spike family of missiles has been unveiled by manufacturer Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. The “fire and forget” anti-tank guided missile could arguably be labeled as Israel’s most prominent and effective homegrown weapon. Rafael’s introduction of the L-SPIKE 4X last month at the AUSA exhibition in Washington marks a big milestone for the company. Unlike previous Spike variants, the new prototype is reportedly capable of loitering over a target before striking in a fashion similar to a “kamikaze” or “suicide” unmanned aerial vehicle. As detailed by the CEO and president of Rafael, Yoav Tourgeman, “with L-SPIKE 4X we bring Spike’s missile pedigree into a new dimension — combining the speed and precision of a missile with the persistence of a Launched Effect.”

An Overview of the Spike Series

Like many of Israel’s domestically designed military defense endeavors, the Spike family of missiles was developed during the country’s early founding days. When Israel’s Armored Corps and fleet of main battle tanks were greatly diminished during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Israel Defense Forces began outlining the requirement for a lethal anti-tank weapon capable of precisely taking out adversarial armored vehicles. Rafael was ultimately tasked with designing the resulting Spike platform.

The Israeli-designed anti-tank weapon uses a small fiber-optic cable that links the weapon to its launching system, in addition to a camera within the weapon itself. According to Rafael, the Spike’s operator can launch a precise strike while remaining up to 30 km away. The weapon’s operator is also able to alter the missile’s trajectory post-launch. Prior to the debut of the L-SPIKE 4x, the Spike NLOS (non-line of sight) missile represented the most advanced iteration in this series. As detailed by its manufacturer, the NLOS variant has the capability to engage non-line-of-sight targets. “With the help of images provided by various electro-optical sensors, the missile locates the target on its own, marks it, and helps the operator to neutralize it more accurately and simply.”