The Indian Army on Wednesday successfully fired newly acquired Spike Long Range anti-tank missiles at the Infantry School in Madhya Pradesh. The firing was witnessed by the top Infantry hierarchy of the Indian Army, including the General Bipin Rawat, who were all at Mhow for the annual Infantry Commanders’ Conference.
For the last nearly three decades, the Indian Army has been using now outdated second-generation missiles. Spike LR is a 4th Gen missile, which can engage a target with precision at ranges up to 4km. In addition, to fire and forget capability, the missile also has the ability to fire, observe and update, providing substantial flexibility to the firer to pinpoint the impact point, as also the ability to switch to a different target mid-flight.
Indian Army was looking to replace the inventory with 3rd Generation missiles which were recognized nearly ten years back. In 2011, an RFP was floated for more than 8,000 missiles with a transfer of technology (ToT) to Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL). The Spike missile was the only one to qualify after going through the complex testing process.
Since the induction and training, this was the first time that soldiers from the Indian Army carried out practice firing of the missile. All missiles successfully engaged the target.
Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of the Spike missile, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems from Israel, has established a joint venture with the Kalyani Group in India. The JV is capable of manufacturing Spike missiles in India.
