The selection of the Spike LR2 anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) to equip Army’s future fleet of Rheinmetall Boxer combat reconnaissance vehicles (CVRs) will provide a potent capability developed over nearly four decades of operational service.
The choice of the Israel-manufactured weapon was no great surprise – it was one of only two contenders for the Land 400 Phase 2 requirement for a turret-mounted missile able to engage main battle tanks at 4,000 metres.
Nevertheless, it faced powerful opposition from the MMP (Missile Moyenne Portee/medium range missile) offered by European missile house MBDA and touted as the world’s first fifth generation land combat missile system to be fully qualified and in full-scale production.
Surprisingly, given the importance of the ATGM as the CRV’s primary defensive weapon, Spike’s selection was confirmed only in matter-of-fact remarks by Major General David Coglan, Head of Land Systems Division in Defence’s Capability and Sustainment Group (CASG), at Senate Estimates on 30 May.
This somewhat belated confirmation came 10 days after the selection was first disclosed, albeit without a source being given, by the specialist publication Jane’s Missiles and Rockets.
Subsequently Rafael Australia executive Ido Spitzer referred all questions to Defence, Defence sources denied that an official announcement was imminent, and MBDA Australia Managing Director Andy Watson commented on 29 May that if a government decision had been made, he had not been advised of it.
The Land 400 Phase 2 decision has substantial ramifications, putting Rafael in a strong position to also supply ATGM systems for the up to 450 infantry fighting vehicles to be acquired under Land 400 Phase 3. A Request for Tender for this project is expected later this year.
And both the Spike LR2 and the MMP are also going head-to-head for Project Land 4108. This too seeks a 4,000 metre range ATGM, but as a dismounted (infantry) direct fire support weapon to replace the in-service Javelin missile.
A Request for Information for Land 4108 closed last December, and an industry brief the previous month set 2023 as the delivery timeframe.
Spike and Boxer
So what will Army be receiving for its fleet of 8x8 CVRs?
Although Rheinmetall will be providing 211 Boxer drive modules under Land 400 Phase 2, only 133 will be turreted and how many of these will be armed with Spike is not known. Those that do will feature an armoured and dampened launching pod on the left side of the Lance turret in which two missiles can be stored indefinitely, ready for action.
The ATGM-armed Boxers will be depending on a weapon system whose first generation (the ultra-long range Spike NLOS/Non-Line-of-Sight) entered service with the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) in the early 1980s following lessons learnt in the Yom Kippur war.
Since then Rafael has supplied 30,000 Spike missiles and systems in short, medium and long-range variants to 29 countries, with steadily-enhanced capabilities drawing on decades of operational and training use. The 30,000th missile was fired in mid-May.
The new generation Spike LR2 has evolved from the 4,000-metre range Spike LR and can be fired from vehicles, helicopters, ships, and ground launchers. This latest variant is now entering service with the IDF and is reliably reported to have been ordered by Latvia to equip its tracked CVRs, making Australia the second export customer.
The Spike LR2 includes a tandem high explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead which enhances its armour penetration ability by more than 30 per cent over the previous generation. The warhead consists of two shaped charges – a precursor warhead to detonate any explosive reactive armour and a primary warhead to penetrate the underlying armour.
The tandem warhead can also be used against standard wall structures, with delayed detonation ensuring the warhead explodes within the structure.
The missile is also available with a powerful multipurpose blast warhead with selectable fuze options that can be used against ships and bunkers, breaching 20 cm of reinforced concrete. It can also be used with an airburst effect against soft-skinned vehicles and personnel in open terrain.
Weighing 12.7 kg, Spike LR2 has lockon-before-launch capability but retains a fibre-optic data link for man-in-the-loop control. It features a range of 5.5 km when fired from ground launchers – an increase of more than 35 per cent on Spike LR – and up to 10 km when fired from a helicopter and using a radio frequency data link.
The increase in range has been largely achieved by fitting a new multiband electro-optical seeker that includes an uncooled infrared (IR) sensor instead of a cooled unit requiring an internal gas cylinder, and a new high definition light-emitting diode colour day sensor.
The seeker includes a multispectral target tracker with artificial intelligence features enabling it to simultaneously track a target with its two sensors, enabling data from both to be fused to obtain a robust target lock-on in obscured battlefield environments.
In addition the seeker’s design enables ‘sensor hotswap capability’ – swapping between sensors in mid-flight to provide a different target image depending on prevailing conditions or target behaviour.
Rafael says that the missile’s design takes into account the low signature, time-sensitive characteristics, advanced armour and protection systems of modern targets.
To counter such challenges the Spike LR2 includes an embedded Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) for missions using third party target acquisition. This allows the missile to be fired to grid target coordinates even when the launching platform has no visual identification of the target.
A further advantage is its ability to hit targets at an angle of up to 70 degrees, allowing a more lethal top attack profile that would largely avoid active protection systems.
AIC
Although no details are yet known of the Australian LR2 order or missile quantities, initial deliveries to establish training regimes could be expected soon after Boxer deliveries begin in 2020.
Such early deliveries would presumably arrive from Israel rather than from the proposed Rafael-Varley joint venture – VRA Systems – which will be established north of Newcastle and is set to be the first manufacturer of the Spike LR2 system outside Israel.
Rafael has undertaken to transfer the necessary Intellectual Property and production skills to the partnership to ensure Australia not only has total operational independence in its use of Rafael’s technologies, but will also become part of Rafael’s global supply chain for Spike and other systems.
Unconfirmed reports put the cost of a Spike LR at around US$125,000, with the Spike LR2 said to be more expensive. Whether or not total or partial local manufacture of relatively small missile numbers will cut costs or involve a price premium at this time is anyone’s guess.
MMP
And what of the MMP alternative – unsuccessful for Land 400 Phase 2, but not necessarily so for Phase 3 and Land 4108?
In 2005 France’s Direction generale de l’armement (DGA) began its search to replace the French Army’s ageing MBDA-produced Milan ATGM system with an initial evaluation of the Javelin and the Spike LR, the latter to be adapted to French requirements.
A newbuild fifth-generation system proposed by MBDA was later selected as the preferred option and formal development of the MMP began in 2012.
First deliveries to the French Army began in late 2017. Mounted and dismounted missiles will be issued to infantry, cavalry and special forces units, replacing Javelins, together with Milan systems on VAB 6x6 medium armoured vehicles The missile is currently being integrated in a twin round retractable launcher on the Jaguar 6x6 combat reconnaissance vehicles that over time will replace the VAB fleet.
The first of an intended family of 140 mm calibre munitions, MMP has a range in excess of 4,000 metres, is 1.3 metres long, weighs 15 kg in its carry/launch tube and is fitted with a high-performance fibre-optic data link and a Saab Bofors-developed tandem warhead with selectable anti-armour and anti-infrastructure modes. Both modes also feature an anti-personnel effect.
According to MBDA, the missile can defeat more than one metre of rolled homogenous armour beneath explosive reactive armour, three metres of non-reinforced concrete.
A dual band colour TV/uncooled IR seeker assembly enables the engagement of cold and hot targets in varied visibility, with the operator selecting which sensor mode to deploy before launch.
The missile features two selectable trajectory options – low altitude with direct attack, or high altitude with top attack. It can be fired in two modes: either lock-on-before-launch for engagement of visible targets, or lock-on-after-launch, with a man-in-the-loop capability for non-line-of-sight engagements when a suspected target is not initially visible.
As with Spike LR2, for lock-on-after-launch the target can also be designated by a third party with the seeker image transmitted to the operator in a wide field of view via the fibre optic link that also enables in-flight targeting and retargeting.
An inertial reference unit designed and built by French electronics company Safran guides the missile to the grid reference provided by the third party, where the target can then be acquired.
Open software architecture and international data standards are utilised to simplify the integration of the MMP into the host vehicle’s battle management and sighting systems. Because the MMP is a total digital system, upgrades can be introduced via software insertion rather than requiring return to the manufacturer.
The missile itself is carried in a ‘ready to use’ turret-mounted configuration, and its soft launch ejection system eliminates the potential for damage to the host vehicle.
It was reported in March that MBDA had achieved its first export for the MMP, thought to be for the dismounted configuration. Although the company declined to provide details of the order, the recipient country is believed to be Qatar.
MMP AIC
To ensure Australian sovereignty in the operation and sustainment of MMP, MBDA undertook to provide to Australian industry the design and tooling necessary to manufacture advanced MMP components and integration hardware and become part of the MMP global supply chain. MBDA Australia made an announcement in February this year about a partnership for composites on the launch tube with Airspeed as part of their Land 400 campaign.
Although MMP is a maintenance-free missile, the company also promised to transfer the tools and expertise necessary for Australia to sustain its own MMP stockpile during its expected more than 30-year lifespan.
Interestingly, MBDA also proposed replicating the level of technical collaboration achieved with the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) in evolving the company’s Advanced Short Range Air to Air Missile (ASRAAM), the primary weapon of the RAAF’s ‘classic’ F/A-18A/B Hornet fighters.
This would allow DSTG to conduct tailored testing and modelling and to collaborate on the development of performance upgrades, MBDA suggested.
MBDA’s Watson confirmed that collaboration with South Australian composites specialist Airspeed on MMP launch tube production had not been contingent on success with Land 400 Phase 2.
“If there’s a price or performance advantage, of course we’re still interested,” he stated.
Comment
Although neither contender has been prepared to comment on the Commonwealth’s decision, the Jane’s report suggested that the Spike LR2 had been assessed as better matched to Army’s Elbit-supplied battle management system.
In its tender BAE Systems advanced both Spike LR2 and MMP as ATGM options for its AMV35; Rheinmetall proposed only the Spike LR2 for the Boxer. With the capabilities and proposed industrial strategies for both missiles broadly similar, the lengthy operational experience behind development of the LR2 is likely to have been a further factor in its selection.
This article first appeared in the July 2018 edition of ADM.