Rafael is expanding the Spike missile family with the lightweight, man-portable Spike SR, a ‘fire and forget’ short range guided missile enabling infantrymen to engage a wide range of targets with high precision, from ranges up to 800 meters. Spike SR is positioned between the Spike MR (medium-range) weapon and the unguided Matador multipurpose rocket, offering the advantages of both weapons for infantry-relevant ranges, at a full system weight of less than 10 kg., therefore reducing load by 3 percent.
RAFAEL has completed the program’s feasibility testing and is now seeking international customers and partners to pursue full-scale development. The company positions the new weapon at a level well above RAFAEL’s own Matador rocket system, Talley SMAW or Saab AT4, as well as the Saab MBT LAW. According to Rafael, despite the much improved precision, performance and probability of kill, Spike SR will be slightly more expensive than those other unguided rockets.
The guidance system provides the distinctive advantage of the Spike SR – a strapdown camera located at the tip providing both target acquisition sensor and a seeker, employed for in-flight guidance. Spike SR carries a multi-purpose tandem shaped-charge warhead with blast-fragmentation effect, offering capabilities similar to those of the Spike LR missile.
The seeker tracks the target sending flight control commands to the aerodynamic controls, keeping the missile on its flight course to hit the target with high precision. The missile offers very high-hit probability, against point targets, as well as moving targets. Its target acquisition functionality enables Spike SR to operate in both day and night modes, without a dedicated magnifying day/night optics or laser rangefinder, thus saving significant additional weight, power consumption, logistics complexity and costs.
