Missile Spike

The Spike, developed by Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, originated in the late 1970s, when the Yom Kippur War showed that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) needed a high-precision guided tactical ground-to-ground missile. The first variant, later designated Spike NLOS (Tamuz), entered IDF service in 1981 alongside the Pereh missile carrier. Neither system was publicly acknowledged until 2011. The man-portable and vehicle-mounted Spike MR, LR and ER entered Israeli service in 1997. The short-range Spike SR was unveiled in 2012. As of 2024, the family was in its sixth generation. A European variant, EuroSpike, is produced in Germany, and the missile has also been license-produced in Singapore.

The Spike is a fire-and-forget missile with lock-on before launch and an imaging infrared seeker; some variants add a CCD camera. The LR and ER variants trail a fiber-optic link, which enables a "fire, observe and update" mode. In this mode the operator can acquire targets outside line of sight after launch, switch targets in flight, or correct tracking. NLOS variants switch from fiber-optic to radio data link at longer distances. A soft-launch motor, which ignites after the missile clears the launcher, permits firing from enclosed spaces.

The standard warhead is a tandem HEAT charge, with a precursor to defeat explosive reactive armor. The SR can carry a multi-purpose tandem warhead or a penetration-blast-fragmentation warhead for breaching structures. The LR2 adds a tandem HEAT warhead with 30% greater penetration, a multipurpose blast option with selectable fusing, an uncooled IR seeker with an AI-assisted tracker, and inertial guidance for engaging grid coordinates. Its impact angle of up to 70 degrees is designed to counter active protection systems. The NLOS Mk.5 introduced wings and a multi-purpose warhead. The sixth-generation NLOS adds four-missile salvo launch, in-flight control handover between platforms, and carriage by Heron-TP-class UAVs. The Aerospike is a fixed-wing air-launched derivative of the LR2 that navigates without GPS by scene matching.

Launch platforms include tripods, light and armored vehicles, remote weapon stations, attack and utility helicopters (Tiger, AH-64E, A129, UH-60M, AW159), and naval craft. Finland and the Philippines employ the ER in the anti-ship role.

According to Rafael, Spike missiles have been ordered by 41 countries, and over 40,000 had been delivered by 2023. The system is replacing MILAN and Dragon missiles in several armies, including Germany's, where it is designated MELLS. Singapore became the second operator in 1999. In 2007 the British Army received NLOS missiles directly from IDF stocks as "Exactor" for counter-mortar fire in Iraq and moved the batteries to Afghanistan in 2010. South Korea deployed NLOS to Baengnyeongdo and Yeonpyeongdo near the Northern Limit Line in 2013. The US Army selected NLOS for the AH-64 in 2020, and in August 2025 conducted the first European NLOS firing, at Ustka, Poland. Spain cancelled its contract in June 2025 over Israeli operations in Gaza. In December 2024, Canada reported that most of its first LR2 batch malfunctioned during testing.

Combat use includes the 1982 and 2006 Lebanon wars, the Second Intifada, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Gaza conflicts. Hezbollah captured Spike MR rounds in 2006. Iran reverse-engineered these as the Almas, which Hezbollah reportedly used against Israeli positions at Shlomi and Rosh HaNikra in January 2024. Azerbaijan used Spike against Armenian T-72 tanks in 2020. During the 2023 Gaza war, the Israeli Navy fired NLOS at coastal targets. According to reports, Spike missiles fired from a Hermes 450 drone killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers. In June 2025, during Operation Rising Lion, Mossad operatives used remotely controlled NLOS launchers inside Iran against aircraft and missile launchers; Iranian authorities later recovered the launchers.