Spike | |
---|---|
Type | Anti-tank guided missile |
Place of origin | Israel |
Service history | |
In service |
|
Used by | See Operators (41 countries ordered it[1]) |
Wars | |
Production history | |
Designer | Rafael Advanced Defense Systems |
Designed | Late 1970s (Spike NLOS) |
Manufacturer | Rafael Advanced Defense Systems & EUROSPIKE GmbH
|
Unit cost | $249,966 (US Army Spike NLOS, 2022), $140,000 (German Spike-LR, 2017)[2] |
Produced |
|
No. built | 40,000 (2023)[3] and 7,000 fired |
Variants | See variants |
Specifications | |
Mass | Spike-ER from helicopter:
Spike-MR/LR from ground:[4]
Spike-SR: |
Length |
|
Diameter |
|
Rate of fire | Ready to launch in 30 seconds, reload in 15 seconds |
Effective firing range | |
Sights | 10× optical sight |
Warhead | Tandem-charge HEAT warhead |
Detonation mechanism | Piezoelectric trigger |
Engine | Solid-propellant rocket |
Guidance system | Infrared homing – Electro-optical (CCD, imaging infrared (IIR), or dual CCD/IIR), passive CCD, or dual CCD/IIR seeker |
Spike (Hebrew: ספייק) is an Israeli fire-and-forget anti-tank guided missile and anti-personnel missile with a tandem-charge high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead. As of 2024[update], it is in its sixth generation.[5] It was developed and designed by the Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. It is available in man-portable, vehicle-launched, helicopter-launched and maritime variants.
The missile can engage and destroy targets within the line-of-sight of the launcher ("fire-and-forget"), and some variants can make a top attack through a "fire, observe and update" method (essentially lock-on after launch);[5] 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. This is similar to the lofted trajectory flight profile of the US FGM-148 Javelin.