RAFAEL President and CEO Yedidya Yaari
RAFAEL to supply missiles to Spanish army
Multi-million dollar deal: Leading missile system manufactured by Israeli company to be sold for use by Spanish army
RAFAEL Armament Development Authority Ltd. and the Spanish General Dynamics Santa Bárbara Sistemas (GDSBS) will supply the Spanish army with SPIKE-LR missiles in a USD 425 million deal.
As part of the deal, the companies will supply the Spanish army’s land troop with 2,600 missiles, and 260 launchers. Also, RAFAEL is obligated to transfer the missile’s manufacturing knowledge to Spain.
The SPIKE-LR missile belongs to the fourth generation of the SPIKE missile family, one of the most advanced in the world. SPIKE missiles are electro-optic and multi-purpose, and include homing devices with dual sensors for day and night.
The missile works in such a way that following identification of the target by the operator, it settles on the target with no further intervention after being launched.
The system also has a second mode, which allows for communication between the missile and the launcher through fiber-optics, and also allows the target to be changed after launching.
The missile system includes the option to destroy targets without a line of vision while minimizing regional damage and directing the missile to a different target after launching.
Those abilities, along with a range of 4-8 kilometers, tagged the SPIKE-LR very effective weapons.
RAFAEL President and CEO Yedidya Yaari said, “The Spanish government and army’s vote of confidence in the SPIKE system, especially considering Spain is a very significant NATO state, bases it even more substantially as one of the leading systems in the world.”
Missile sales have been estimated at over USD 1 billion and it is being used by many countries including Israel, Holland, Poland, Italy, Romania, Finland, Singapore, the Czech Republic, and Southern African countries.
