Ministry of Defence of India  and Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems finalized deal for for Spike anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) systems, reported by www.israeldefense.co.il.

India will acquire 275 launchers and 5,500 Spike missiles in completed and kit form along with an undisclosed number of simulators. The deal also includes a technology transfer to India’s state-owned Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) to build another 1,500 systems and around 30,000 additional missiles. The contract is likely to be confirmed before or during the visit of Israeli president Reuven Rivlin to India later this year.

Deliveries are expected to be completed 48-60 months thereafter, while BDL will continue to license-build the Spike for the next 20-25 years.

In the early stages of the negotiations, India approved the acquisition of 1,914 ATGM launchers and 37,860 missiles. It was later published that they only want 321 launchers and 8356 missiles. The meaning of the new agreement is that India prefers to produce the systems and the missiles itself rather than to rely on direct procurement from Rafael.

The Spike family includes: Spike-SR with a range of 800m, Spike-MR (Gill) with range of 2,500m, Spike-LR with 4,000m range and Spike-ER (formerly known as NTD Dandy) with a range of 8,000m. Spike-LR and Spike-ER can also be fitted on light combat vehicles and a package for mounting Spike-ER on helicopters is also available. The Spike missile system is currently in production and in service with the Israeli, Dutch, Chilean, Colombian, Finnish, German, Polish, Italian, Peruvian, Spanish and Singaporean armed forces.