Sic'em, Spike!

Small, cheap, accurate -– all the words to make a weapon researcher’s heart beat fast. U.S. Navy officials say they have conducted the first successful demonstration –- against a moving target -- of what they contend is the world’s smallest, fire-and-forget, precision guided missile. The Spike, a 5.3 lb., 25-in. long, 2.25-in. diameter missile, used its electro-optical imaging seeker to acquire, track and hit a target moving at 30 mph at a range of over 750 yds. during a test by the Navy’s Air Warfare Center Weapons Div. at China Lake, Calif.

The ultimate plan in the test program is to equip a small, unmanned aircraft with the weapon and a weapons management suite that would be connected via RF data link to a ground-based weapons control station. The next phase of the program is scheduled for the fall and will involve launching a Spike from a 750-ft. mountain peak at a target moving at 60 mph over 2,400 yards away.

A longer term goal is build the missile at a cost of $5,000 each. At that price, officials believe they can expand the missile’s capabilities to include its use as a shoulder-fired infantry weapon or as a weapon to defend ships from swarms of small boats and light aircraft.

--David Fulghum

Comments

[Big D]

I wish they had picked another name... most googles turn up the Israeli Spike, which is unrelated.

[Xander]

can you clear up some of the confusion on this article?I've found an article on military.com about this and it says It's the same system as the Israeli Spike.

http://www.military.com/soldiertech/0,14632,Soldiertech_SPIKE,,00.html

[Tamir Eshel]

The Israeli Spike, developed by RAFAEL, is optically guided via an optical-fiber. The laser guided Spike, developed by DRS under a US Navy program, homes in on a laser spot, marked by a designator, similar to the guidance of laser guided Hellfire or Paveway laser guided bomb. Read more on both 'Spikes' and other UAV weapons at the link:
http://www.defense-update.com/features/du-1-07/feature_armedUAVs.htm

or more on the laser guided Spike, at the following Defense-Update page:

http://www.defense-update.com/products/s/spike_laser.htm

[Sean Meade]

thanks for the comment, Tamir. very helpful

[dave fulghum]

Tamir, a very plugged in Israeli defense writer and friend, is absolutely correct. The Israeli Spike is much larger and more sophisticated. The U.S. Spike is small and cheap and aimed at putting weapons on smaller UAVs.

[ctsszb]

can you give more datasheet about spike?