Rafael unveils new high-speed L-Spike 4X loitering munition

JERUSALEM — The American arm of Israeli defense firm Rafael has unveiled the newest entrant to its Spike family of missiles, this one a high-speed, rocket-powered loitering munition dubbed L-Spike 4X Launched Effect.

The company says the new munition can be fired from its Spike NLOS launchers like more traditional Spike missiles, but the L-Spike 4X adds the capability to loiter over a target before striking like a kamikaze drone. The missile combines “high-speed transit, seeker precision and mission persistence for contested operational environments,” the company said in a statement.

Yoav Tourgeman, the CEO and President of Rafael said that “with L-SPIKE 4X we bring Spike’s missile pedigree into a new dimension — combining the speed and precision of a missile with the persistence of a Launched Effect.”

The new munition looks like a missile but with an optic in the nose and a cruciform wing design with wings four wings in the front and four in the rear. This design has commonalities with other loitering munitions and also has a similar wing design as the Spike NLOS, while being a different type of munition with a different body and forward portion. 

The company says that the new weapon, which is “intended for engagements at ranges of up to 40 km” or approximately 25 miles, is a missile with loitering capabilities “built in” and is not an unmanned aerial system that has a “retrofitted” warhead. 

Rafael USA said it will be offered in “two primary warhead configurations: Tandem HEAT and Multi-Purpose.” 

The missile can reach that 40km range in five minutes, which Rafael says is faster than “most electric loitering effects.” The weapon can also loiter over its target for up to 25 minutes. 

“The system is designed for operation in contested electromagnetic environments and GPS-denied environments and includes hardened communications to sustain control under interference,” the company said in a statement on Aug. 9. Drones and loitering munitions are increasingly facing the issue of GPS-denied environments and other types of jamming and spoofing.

The US Army has been testing launched effects over the last several years, including launching some from Black Hawks or from the ground. The US military has been increasing its procurement of various types of drones, loitering munitions and categories of launched effects as it seeks to expand its unmanned capabilities.

Rafael’s Spike family of missiles have been used by up to 45 countries, and are often used for anti-tank and similar types of missiles. 

Rafael also makes the Spike Firefly, which is a tactical loitering munition that has been used by the IDF. Unlike the new missile, the Firefly is a small munition that hovers using a series of blades similar to a helicopter.