Serbia, Poland Likely to Buy Spike LR2 Missiles from Israel

Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems is likely to bag contracts from Serbia and Poland for Spike LR2 fifth generation missiles.

"We are acting in Serbia together with state-owned defense products manufacturer Jugoimport-SDPR and we are working on the promotion of Spike LR2 rockets," Al Zaher, regional director for Rafael, told Serbian public broadcaster RTS last week.

Meanwhile, Roland Steinbrecher, the regional director for corporate international marketing and business development at Rafael, told Defense News that the company is the only Israeli defense business at this year’s MSPO Expo to be held from 7-10 September.  Rafael aims to extend its presence in Poland and introduce the Spike LR2 to this market among its other products.

“The first deal with Mesko (Polish company) was signed in 2003, providing our Polish partners with the necessary technology to produce the majority of the final product. Six years ago, we signed a new contract which is to end in 2021,” Steinbrecher told Defense News. “We would like to sign a new agreement to supply Mesko with new technology, allowing them to produce the Spike LR2.”

Spike-LR II has reduced weight to 12.7 kg, increased range of 5.5 km at ground level and 10 km from helicopters using an RF data-link, warhead options of tandem HEAT with 30% increased armor penetration or a multipurpose blast warhead with selectable impact or penetration detonation fusing, a new seeker that includes an uncooled IR sensor with a smart target tracker with artificial intelligence features, the ability to fire on grid target coordinates using an inertial measurement unit for third party-target allocation, and is compatible with legacy launchers. The missile is designed with a counter-active protection system (CAPS) capability, being able to hit targets at higher impact angles of up to 70 degrees.