Iron Wasp

Iron Wasp is a vehicle-mounted, capsule-launched hard-kill counter-drone interceptor co-developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and SpearUAV to let armored vehicles physically destroy drones and loitering munitions while on the move.

Overview

Iron Wasp is an Israeli counter-drone interceptor announced by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and SpearUAV in June 2026 and presented at the Eurosatory defense exhibition in Paris. Israel Defense describes it as an encapsulated UAS interceptor launched from a compact Multi-Canister Launcher integrated onto armored vehicles, giving ground maneuver forces an organic, on-the-move ability to intercept low-signature aerial threats without pre-mission preparation. The interceptor is a derivative of SpearUAV's Viper I, an interceptor variant of the company's capsule-launched Viper drone family, with Rafael contributing the warhead, sensor and command-and-control integration.

The system's significance is architectural rather than incremental: it moves hard-kill counter-drone interception from area air defense down to the individual combat platform. Defense Express notes that Rafael positions it not as a stand-alone weapon but as an automated element of overall armored-vehicle protection, working alongside the Trophy active protection system, Drone Dome and the Samson weapon stations. Despite the shared "Iron" branding with Rafael's Iron Dome, Iron Wasp is a platform-level interceptor drone, not a missile battery — and it is unrelated to Elbit's Iron Sting guided mortar round.

Development

SpearUAV, founded in 2017 according to the company's own profile, specializes in "encapsulated" drones — aircraft folded into sealed canisters for instant launch from vehicles, vessels or infantry equipment. Its Viper family spans the Viper 300 attack loitering munition and the Viper I interceptor, which EDR Magazine describes as a tube-launched, ~4.5 kg drone with four folding-propeller motors, a ~1.3 kg payload and a range of about 2 km, developed to give infantry a last-ditch defense against aerial threats. In November 2025, loitering-munition maker UVision announced its complete acquisition of SpearUAV, folding the Viper family into the UVision Group.

The Rafael partnership surfaced publicly in stages. EDR Magazine reports that at the International Armoured Vehicles conference in January 2026 SpearUAV disclosed it was working with a major OEM that would supply the sensor suite and warhead; that OEM proved to be Rafael. The companies announced the co-developed Iron Wasp on June 16, 2026, per Calibre Defence, with Rafael's land-systems chief Tzvi Marmor presenting it as the newest layer of a protection architecture built "layer by layer" from Trophy to directed energy. For Rafael, the pairing adds a drone-interceptor competency the company did not have in-house, a gap Defense Express says drove the partnership.

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