Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Germany orders Spike LR.


via Janes
The German parliament gave the green light on 22 March for the Bundeswehr to procure 1,000 Israeli-designed Spike LR anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) and 97 corresponding launcher units worth EUR158.3 million (USD172 million) from EuroSpike under the Bundeswehr's multirole guided missile system (MELLS) programme.

The contract breaks down into EUR112.4 million for the missiles themselves, EUR25.6 million for the launchers, and EUR20.3 million for integration into the Bundeswehr's AGDUS laser-based training and simulation system.

The procurement is to begin in 2018, with 104 missiles and 39 launcher units to be procured by 2020. The German Ministry of Defence (MoD) expects additional user costs for MELLS of EUR25 million projected over the course of 20 years until 2037, as well as EUR18.7 million in user costs for the AGDUS components.
I don't know when it happened but it appears that the Spike family of anti-tank missiles have become the world standard.

I wonder why the Javelin and TOW fell out of favor?  Are they outclassed across the board?  Is the Spike more flexible/cheaper?  

I really would like to know.

No comments :

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.