The Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF) has completed a successful firing of Rafael’s SPIKE LR missiles in a demonstration in Slovenia, December 2020, in front of the Ministry of Defence representatives and members of the Slovenian Armed Forces. Slovenia selected the Spike missile to equip the 38 Oshkosh JLTV vehicles to be delivered in 2021.
All vehicles will receive the Kongsberg Protector Remote Weapon Station (RWS) carrying a 12.7 heavy machine gun and the Spike LR launcher. SPIKE LR was demonstrated in firing from a JLTV in June 2019 at the annual SPIKE Missile User Club hosted by NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) in Slovenia in June 2019. Slovenia is currently fielding the Spike LR but will have the option to upgrade to Spike LR2 in the future. The new version has already been selected by six nations, including three NATO members – Germany, Latvia, and Slovakia.
Like all other SPIKE launchers, the integration of the missile to the Protector RWS includes a provision for SPIKE LR2, a fifth-generation multipurpose missile weighing 13.4 kg, capable of an engagement range of up to 5.5 km. Integrating multi-color EO sensors and seekers on the launcher and missile, Spike LR2 provides advanced target recognition and tracking and supports a new third-party target allocation (network-enabled targeting). These capabilities are assisted by an embedded enhanced, inertial measurement unit (IMU) assembly. The demo displayed the SPIKE launcher’s enhanced capabilities as a force multiplier for the mobilized land forces, enabling precision strikes against armored targets with improved precision at extended ranges and beyond-line-of-sight.
During the demonstration, the Slovenian Army also fired SPIKE missiles using the new dismounted digital SPIKE launcher ICLU, as part of the ongoing transition in all SPIKE Missile user nations to new digital NCW-ready launchers and 5th generation SPIKE LR2 missiles.
EuroSpike’s (a European Joint Venture between Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Diehl Defence, and Rheinmetall Defence) SPIKE LR is a wider, multi-platform, multipurpose, multi-range SPIKE family of electro-optical missiles.
