Polish army buys Israeli anti-tank missiles

[The Watcher]

How are these missilse different than Jevline, bakhtar shikans and the rest???

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The Polish defence ministry said Monday it had signed a 300-million-euro (375-million-dollar) contract to buy 2,700 Israeli Spike anti-tank missiles for the Polish army, in its latest move to come up to NATO standards.

The missiles are to be manufactured under licence in Poland at the Mesko factory in the southern city of Skarzysko Kamienna.

Under the 1.4-billion-zloty (300 million euro) contract signed by the ministry, the Mesko factory and Polish company Bumar, the army will between 2004-2013 take delivery of nearly 2,700 missiles made by Israeli company Rafael, defence ministry officials told a news conference.

"Poland will also buy 264 mobile rocket launchers, then the Patria AMV armoured vehicles which were bought by Poland from Finland will be fitted out in 2006 by the Mesko factory with the launchers," Deputy Defence Minister Janusz Zemke, told a news conference.

In July Poland signed an overall 1.68 billion zloty (360 million euro) contract, covering the final assembly at the Mesko factory of the 2,700 Spike missiles and the delivery by Rafael of launchers.

The Spike missiles, which are equipped with a system of night navigation, passed tests carried out in Poland in November 2002.

Rafael competed with Russian, European and South African companies for the contract.

Poland, which joined NATO in 1999, has made costly efforts to upgrade its army which still operates with obsolete Soviet armaments dating back to Warsaw Pact times.

Over the past two years Poland has spent billions of dollars upgrading its military, buying 48 US Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter planes, 980 Finnish AMV Patria transporters and eight personnel carriers from Spain's CASA.



URL of this article:
http://www.defencetalk.com/news/publish/article_1064.shtml

 

[gf0012-aust]

the Spike is relatively small, lightweight (9kg) can be used for anti-armor, is a fire and forget missile

Its optimized for operation at short ranges of 50 - 800 meters.
Also designed to operate from confined spaces, so its good for operators needing to take up a firing positions in bunkers, buildings, any normal built up area, conversely that means its ideal for high intensity FIBUA etc.

Its fitted with a tandem warhead.

A very nice piece of kit

 

[Red aRRow]

Spike is a nice weapon but I dont think it will work well against heavily armoured tanks or targets.

 

[gf0012-aust]

Spikes initial design brief was heavy anti-armour. The Israelis have a very serious tendency to understate weapons capability (if they say anything at all)

The way they have worked in the past is to assess what the most lethal threat is in region and then work on how to counter it. They take a top down design approach.

You could guarantee that they would be able to kill all current russian based platforms (they have enough spares to test them on). The issue is whether they could take out a challenger 2, leclerc or M1a2. They are the tanks with an armour type that would be hard to guess about.

Reactive armour plates etc as used by the russians are not a threat (hence the dual warhead)

 

[suleman]

Anti-Tank Missile Categories:

Anti-tank missiles are organized according to their technological development and guidance systems.

First Generation Missiles:

Wire-guided missiles, which must be manually guided to their target. After the missile is launched, a tube releases a wire which trails back to the launcher and is directed by the soldier. A common variation: the Egyptian "Sagger" anti-tank missile.

Second Generation Missiles:

Partially automatically guided missiles. When a target is chosen, the soldier who directs the missile must paint the target during the duration of the missile's flight.

A common example: the Israeli "Orlev" missile (TOW 2). These generation of missiles also includes "laser guided" missiles, such as the American "Hellfire" and Israeli "Mapatz" missiles.

Third Generation Missiles:

"Fire and forget" missiles. These missiles are essentially independent from the moment of launch, or, once a missile "lock" has been established.

In addition to the above-mentioned missiles, there are advanced variants which are optically guided via a camera that broadcasts images of the target from the perspective of the missile, thereby enabling the soldier to direct the missile with pinpoint accuracy.

The "Gil" Missile

The "Gil" is a personal, third generation, "fire and forget, missile. The "Gil" is able to receive data subsequent to its launch, and is capable of switching targets while in flight.

The "Gil" is one of the most advanced missiles in the world, and was developed by the Rafael arms industry in cooperation with the IDF during the 1990's.

The advent of the "Gil" revolutionized the Israeli arms industry, as the IDF had previously relied on the "Orev" and "Gavnoni" anti-tank missiles. Currently, the IDF bases its anti-tank capabilities primarily on the "Gil" type anti-tank missiles.

Advantages of the Gil Missile

1) Versatility: The missile can be adapted to naval, aerial, and land platforms.

2) Range: Range of 4km.

3) The warhead seeker: The warhead seeker is electro-optical (TV) and enables tracking as well as pinpoint target acquisition. In addition, the "Gil's" fiber-optic communcations system allows for the collection of vital intelligence gathering, the ability to seek hidden targets, and prevents firing against targets which have been previously destroyed.

4) All weather capability: The missile operates in all weather conditions and in nocturnal scenarios. The ability of the "Gil" to operate in the above-mentioned conditions represents a signifcant technological advance.

5) Tandem (double) warhead: The tandem double warhead allows for increased penetration, especially against reactive armor, and enables the second warhead to penetrate the target.

6) Fire and forget capability: Automatic target guidance.

7) Fire and optic capabilities: This includes the ability to update target information and to switch between targets during a flight.

8) Vertical assault trajectory.

9) Fiber optic communication.

10) Lightweight: Each infantry soldier can carry up to two missiles on his back.
The "Gil" is a specialized missile designed to deal with all threats on the battlefield, including MBT's (main-line battletanks) and helicopters. The launching system was designed to give the soldiers employing it a high degree of survivability.

 

[gf0012-aust]

nice summary, you have more patience than me...

 

[suleman]

Based on lessons drawn from various wars fought by the IDF, it was decided to make improvements in the area of firepower and (battlefield) command and control, as well as intelligence gathering on the battlefield.

IMI (Israeli Military Industries) has developed advanced missiles that fit the above-mentioned areas of improvement, including the "Popeye" and "Python" aerial missiles, the "Barak" naval missile, and the "Gil" anti-tank missile.The "Gil" anti-tank missile, manufactured by Rafael, is a member of the "Spike" family.

Technical Details

*Weight: 13.3kg

*Length: 115 centimeters

*Barrel diameter: 110 millimeters

*Impact zone: 400-4000 meters.

The integration of the "Gil"missile into IDF infantry and anti-tank units significantly improves their capabilities against enemy armor and helicopters.

The replacement of the "Givoni" missile will help provide quick responses to specific quality targets on the battlefield.

 

[suleman]

nice summary, you have more patience than me...

Well trying.

 

[Revival_786]

Nice summary!

 

[Aussie Digger]

It looks a lot like the Javelin missle to me. Another case of reverse engineering perhaps?

 

[gf0012-aust]

It looks a lot like the Javelin missle to me. Another case of reverse engineering perhaps?

I'd say there is a little bit of Israeli influence in it.....

 

[Aussie Digger]

In the Javelin you mean?

 

[gf0012-aust]

no, in the polish weapon... looks very similar to current israeli kit..

 

[Aussie Digger]

Well I suppose the Israeli army is also using the spike eh? They must think more of it than we did when we tested it...

 

[gf0012-aust]

the Israeli/spike/javelein joke was an attempt on my part at daft humour...

I guess we wanted interoperability with some others....

The Poles are usually pretty good at the small/mediums arms decision making issues. I don't think much of their armour, but they are supposed to have good electronics inside..

 

[Aussie Digger]

Sorry, it went completely over my head... Awang Se doesn't seem to impressed with the Polish tanks Malaysia bought recently, so you might be onto something there.