Israel’s Rafael Demos SPIKE LR Missiles to Slovenia

Israeli firm Rafael Defense Systems said it has demonstrated SPIKE LR missiles to Slovenia.

“The Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF) successfully fired Rafael's SPIKE-LR missiles in a live demonstration for members of the Slovenian Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces,” the company tweeted Monday night.

Rafael said the demo displayed the SPIKE launcher's enhanced capabilities, its power as a force multiplier for mobilized land forces, and its amplified precision against armored targets at extended ranges and beyond-line-of-sight.

As part of the an ongoing transition in all SPIKE missile user nations to 5th generation SPIKE LR II missiles, the SAF also fired SPIKE missiles using a new dismounted digital launcher.

SPIKE LR II is an advanced multipurpose missile weighing 12.7 kg. It can be launched from any SPIKE Launcher.

For increased lethality, SPIKE LR II includes two advanced and highly capable warhead configurations: a Tandem HEAT warhead configuration, enhancing armor penetration capability by more than 30%, and a new multipurpose blast warhead, which includes controlled fusing (by the gunner) for control of the desired effect.

SPIKE LR II has a range of 5.5 km when fired from ground launchers (an increase of more than 35% above the 4 km range of the original SPIKE LR) and up to 10 km when fired from a helicopter (using alternative option of RF Data link).

The SPIKE LR II has a modern electro-optical seeker which includes a high quality un-cooled IR sensor and an advanced high definition color day sensor. The new seeker includes capabilities of a smart target tracker with AI features (Artificial Intelligence).

SPIKE LR II was designed against new modern targets with low signature, time-sensitive characteristics. To counter this SPIKE LR II includes an embedded IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) for missions of third party-target allocation, allowing the firing of the missile to grid target coordinates, including advanced armor and protection systems.