Spike

Israel's multi-platform electro-optical anti-tank / precision-strike missile family — the most-exported Western ATGM, operated by 39 nations and spanning a 50 km stand-off envelope.

Overview

Spike is a family of electro-optical anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) and beyond-line-of-sight precision-strike rounds developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. Variants range from the man-portable Spike SR (1.5 km) to the vehicle- and helicopter-launched Spike NLOS (32 km from ground platforms, 50 km from aircraft). The family has been ordered by 41 countries — including the United States and most NATO members — and more than 40,000 rounds have been produced as of 2023, according to Wikipedia, making it the most-exported Western ATGM of its class.

Development

The earliest Spike round, the NLOS missile codenamed Tamuz (also spelled Tammuz), entered Israeli service in the early 1980s as a closely held beyond-line-of-sight weapon. The modern Spike MR/LR/ER family followed in 1997, built for export with fire-and-forget and fiber-optic man-in-the-loop capabilities. Since then the family has evolved through five generations of electro-optical seekers, with the fifth-generation Spike LR2 that entered production in 2014 extending the man-portable segment to 5.5 km. In 2022 Rafael unveiled the sixth-generation Spike NLOS, which introduces four-round salvos, mid-flight control handover between platforms, and target-image acquisition that can single out a specific vehicle in a formation. A transatlantic industrial partnership with Lockheed Martin, formed in 2012, has anchored the missile's entry into US Army service, while the German-majority joint venture EuroSpike GmbH (founded in 2004) anchors European production and has made Spike what Rafael calls "NATO's unofficial missile."

Design & capabilities

All Spike rounds carry a dual electro-optical seeker with an uncooled imaging infrared and a daylight CCD camera, allowing either lock-on-before-launch fire-and-forget or lock-on-after-launch fire-observe-and-update modes. The MR, LR, LR2, and ER variants feed video back to the gunner through a trailing fiber-optic datalink; the NLOS uses an encrypted two-way radio-frequency link that also supports inertial-navigation fire-to-coordinates. This man-in-the-loop architecture allows the operator to update the aim point, shift to a higher-value target, or abort the attack mid-flight — a discriminator over pure fire-and-forget rivals. The LR2’s tandem-charge HEAT warhead penetrates more than 700 mm of rolled homogeneous armor, per EuroSpike; the larger NLOS can be fitted with a penetrating blast-fragmentation or pure fragmentation warhead, and a sixth-generation NLOS can receive a target’s image and hand off control between launch platforms. Spike LR2 and ER2 can loft into a top-attack trajectory to defeat main-battle-tank roof armor; the NLOS adds a salvo mode capable of launching up to four missiles in rapid sequence.

Variants

• Spike SR — shoulder-fired, 1.5 km range, 9.6 kg round for infantry squads.
• Spike MR / LR — man-portable 2.5 km / 4 km workhorses; LR range extended to 5.5 km in 2014.
• Spike LR2 — fifth-generation, 5.5 km ground / 10 km helicopter, tandem HEAT or multipurpose warhead, 13.4 kg missile; the backbone of European orders.
• Spike ER / ER2 — extended-range 8 km / 10 km (ER2 to ~16 km air-launched), 34 kg round for vehicles, helicopters, and naval craft.
• Spike NLOS (Tamuz) — ~71 kg, 32 km ground / 50 km air (sixth-gen), with salvo launch, mid-flight control handover, and image-matching terminal guidance.

Combat record / operational use

The Israel Defense Forces have used the family for decades: Tamuz saw combat from the 1980s; Spike LR-equipped Sentry Tech remote weapon stations have guarded the Gaza perimeter; and during the 2023 Gaza war the Israeli Navy struck Hamas coastal targets with Spike NLOS missiles. Azerbaijan employed Spike missiles against Armenian T-72 tanks during the 2020 Second Nagorno-Karabakh war. The US Army adopted Spike NLOS as the interim Long-Range Precision Munition for the AH-64E Apache: a March 2021 live fire scored a direct hit at 32 km, airworthiness release followed after eight all-up rounds were fired at Yuma Proving Ground in December 2023, and on 5 March 2025 the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade flew Apaches armed with training Spike NLOS rounds at Erbil Airbase, Iraq — the first conventional-unit flight in the CENTCOM area ahead of operational employment. In August 2025 the US Army live-fired Spike NLOS from an AH-64E at Ustka, Poland, in cooperation with Rafael and the Polish Air Force inspectorate. Reported Ukrainian use is not publicly established; no verified evidence of Spike deliveries to Ukraine surfaced in this research.

The 2025–2026 period was defined by industrial scaling: Germany signed a €2 billion framework contract through EuroSpike in October 2025, the US Army selected Spike NLOS for the Mobile-Long Range Precision Strike Missile (M-LRPSM) Phase 2 effort in October 2025, and in May 2026 Diehl, Rafael and EuroSpike test-fired 17 Spike LR missiles from the Ziesel unmanned ground vehicle — the family’s first launches from an uncrewed platform.

Advantages

• True multi-mode engagement: fire-and-forget plus fiber-optic/RF man-in-the-loop allows a gunner to update, retarget or abort mid-flight, a capability absent from pure fire-and-forget rivals.
• The widest export base of any Western ATGM — 39–41 user nations, including roughly 20 NATO members, with over 40,000 missiles built — creates commonality, interoperability, and a hot multi-national production line.
• A single family spans the full tactical envelope: from a 1.5 km infantry shot to a 50 km helicopter standoff strike, all sharing the same basic operator training and logistics footprint.
• US-validated: chosen as the US Army’s interim LRPM for the AH-64E, airworthiness cleared in December 2023, and advanced to the M-LRPSM Phase 2 down-select in October 2025.
• Politically resilient European manufacturing: EuroSpike’s German-majority ownership lets European buyers acquire the missile as “NATO’s unofficial missile” with local production, insulating procurement from Israel-related export sensitivities.

Drawbacks / limitations

• High per-round cost (~$140,000 for an LR-class missile, ~$250,000 for Spike NLOS) creates a poor cost-exchange against cheap FPV drones now performing many short-range anti-armor missions.
• Israeli-origin politics can derail deals, as demonstrated when Spain cancelled a €285 million / 1,680-missile LR2 contract in June 2025 amid the Gaza war.
• No numeric circular-error probable is published; the manufacturer claims “pinpoint accuracy” that is difficult to verify from open sources.
• Man-in-the-loop fiber/RF links introduce potential vulnerability to jamming, link break-lock, and higher operator workload, and the US Army required data-link and integration changes — described as “not in the international version” — to meet its standards.
• Top-end NLOS rounds weigh ~71 kg and are limited to vehicles, helicopters, and naval craft; they are not man-portable.

Counterparts

• Javelin (USA)
• Kornet (Russia)

Outlook

Spike’s trajectory through 2026 is defined by consolidation at both ends: deeper US adoption through the Apache fleet and the M-LRPSM program, and a European rearmament wave funneled through EuroSpike, headlined by Germany’s €2 billion framework order. The first launches from an unmanned ground vehicle — 17 Spike LR rounds fired from the Diehl Ziesel in May 2026 — point to the next evolution: putting the family on uncrewed platforms for standoff tank-hunting, keeping Spike relevant as cheap drones compress the short-range ATGM niche. The principal risk is political (Spain-style contract cancellations linked to Israel’s wars), not technical or industrial.

Key specifications

Sources

1. Wikipedia — Spike (missile) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_%28missile%29
2. EuroSpike GmbH — SPIKE LR2 — https://eurospike.com/system/spike-lr2/
3. Rafael Systems Global Sustainment — SPIKE Family of Missiles — https://www.rsgsllc.com/spike
4. Lockheed Martin — Spike NLOS — https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/products/Spike-NLOS.html
5. Breaking Defense — Rafael unveils new Spike NLOS missile version with in-flight control transfer — https://breakingdefense.com/2022/06/rafael-unveils-new-spike-nlos-missile-version-with-in-flight-control-transfer/
6. Defense News — Spike missile heads toward long-range precision munition shoot-off — https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2022/10/10/spike-missile-heads-toward-long-range-precision-munition-shoot-off/
7. Army Technology — Spike NLOS (Non-Line-of-Sight) Missile System, USA — https://www.army-technology.com/projects/spike-nlos-non-line-of-sight-missile-system-usa/
8. Army Recognition — Exclusive: US Army Integrates Israeli Spike Missile on AH-64 Apache Helicopter — https://www.armyrecognition.com/news/army-news/2025/exclusive-us-army-integrates-israeli-spike-missile-on-ah-64-apache-helicopter-for-enhanced-precision-strikes
9. Globes — Germany to buy Rafael Spike missiles for €2b — https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-Germany-to-procure-Rafael-Spike-missiles-for-2b-1001524325
10. Times of Israel — Spain reneges on $325m purchase of anti-tank missiles from Israel’s Rafael — https://www.timesofisrael.com/spain-reneges-on-325m-purchase-of-anti-tank-missiles-from-israels-rafael/
11. Times of Israel — Israeli arms developer unveils new anti-tank missile, with 32-kilometer range — https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-arms-developer-unveils-new-anti-tank-missile-with-32-kilometer-range/
12. The Defense Post — Diehl Defence’s Ziesel UGV Successfully Test-Fires Spike LR Missiles — https://thedefensepost.com/2026/05/14/diehl-defence-ziesel-spike/