Tel Aviv. Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF) has completed a successful firing of Rafael’s SPIKE LR missiles in a demonstration that took place in Slovenia in December 2020 with the presence of representatives of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and members of the Slovenian Armed Forces.
The successful live demo included firings of the 12.7mm gun and SPIKE LR missile from the KONGSBERG PROTECTOR Remote Weapon Station mounted on JLTV platform. The demo displayed the enhanced capabilities of the SPIKE launcher, as a force multiplier for the mobilized land forces, enabling precision strike against armored targets with improved precision at extended ranges and beyond-line-of-sight.
During the demonstration, the Slovenian army also fired SPIKE missiles using the new dismounted digital SPIKE launcher ICLU, as part of ongoing transition in all SPIKE Missile user nations to new digital NCW-ready launchers and to fifth generation SPIKE LR2 missiles.
Similarly to all other SPIKE launchers, the integration of the SPIKE LR missile to the KONGSBERG PROTECTOR Remote Weapon Station includes a provision for SPIKE LR2, a fifth-generation multipurpose missile, equipped with improved engagement ranges of up to 5.5 km, with a reduced weight (13.4 kg), enhanced lethality, advanced target recognition and tracking, and a new third-party target allocation (network-enabled) enhancement with an embedded inertial measurement unit (IMU) assembly.
In October 2018, the Slovenia Ministry of Defence signed an inter-governmental Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) with the US Government for the purchase of 38 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTV) manufactured by Oshkosh Defense. Slovenia Armed Forces will receive the JLTVs in early 2021.
Procurement of the JLTV supports the fulfillment of NATO’s capability goals for the Slovenian Armed Forces and greatly increases SAF interoperability with US and regional allies currently operating JLTV. All 38 JLTV platforms will be equipped with Protector RWS.
Roman Palaria, director of marketing and business development at Rafael’s Precision Tactical Weapon Systems directorate, said: “We sincerely thank the Slovenian Army, one of our longtime SPIKE users, for their devoted assistance in demonstrating SPIKE’s capabilities, especially in these challenging times.”
EuroSpike’s, a European Joint Venture among Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Diehl Defence and Rheinmettal Defence, SPIKE LR is part of the wider, multi-platform, multi-purpose, multi-range SPIKE family of electro-optical missiles.
