ShieldAfrica 2021: Rafael displays Spike anti-tank missile.

The Israeli company Rafael displays different variants of fire-and-forget anti-tank guided missile and anti-personnel missile Spike (The Spike NLOS, the Spike ER2, the Spile LR2, and the Spike SR) at Shield Africa 2021, Abidjan.

Different variants of the anti-tank missile Spike at Shield Africa, Ivory Coast (Picture source: Army Recognition)

Spike is an Israeli fire-and-forget anti-tank guided missile and anti-personnel missile with a tandem-charge HEAT warhead, currently in its fourth generation. It was developed and designed by the Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. It is available in man-portable, vehicle-launched, and helicopter-launched variants.

As well as engaging and destroying targets within the line-of-sight of the launcher ("fire-and-forget"), some variants of the missile are capable of making a top attack through a "fire, observe and update" method (essentially lock-on after launch); 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.

The Spike-ER II retains the same weight, airframe, surface geometries, and propulsion unit but introduces a two-way RF data-link to increase real-time control to an extended range of 16 km (9.9 mi) from helicopters; it also has an extended fiber optic link to increase the range to 10 km (6.2 mi) from land and naval platforms.