Varley Rafael Australia (VRA) and Thales Australia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and commenced collaboration to discover future Australian manufacturing of the RAFAEL SPIKE household of guided weapon instantly enabling the accelerated supply of a Sovereign Guided Weapons manufacturing and sustainment functionality in help of the Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance (GWEO) Enterprise. The instant focus of the collaboration is the evaluation of producing the SPIKE LR2 Anti-Tank Guided Missile’s superior rocket propulsion system, warheads, Scorching-Integration and related storage necessities.
This collaboration reinforces each VRA and Thales Australia’s dedication to help acceleration of Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance Enterprise functionality and Australian Content material progress in key areas of superior manufacturing and upkeep utilising Australian suppliers and making certain the ADF receives a functionality benefit via domestically manufactured guided weapons important for the defence of Australia. VRA, from its facility in South East Melbourne, has not too long ago accomplished the manufacture of SPIKE Integration Kits (SIKs) for LAND400-2 Boxer automobiles and is presently engaged by the Commonwealth to help Technical Certification of the SPIKE LR2 ATGM in the direction of Introduction into Service of the missile.
Commercial
VRA and Thales Australia, have additionally commenced collaboration to evaluation and advance SPIKE LR2 sovereign provide and sustainment functionality. This partnership will leverage the prevailing provide chains of each organisations and convey new SMEs into the GWEO enterprise ecosystem. AIDN, ADA and Thales not too long ago co-hosted a GWEO provide chain occasion the place over 300 corporations heard from VRA’s CEO concerning the alternatives SPIKE LR2 institution will ship to Australian trade. By the brand new know-how switch to Australia, this new manufacturing partnership might be a big driver of progress in Australia’s Sovereign Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance Enterprise, boosting funding in SMEs, R&D and delivering long-term jobs.
“VRA is an Australian three way partnership established between the VARLEY GROUP – a 135 years outdated Australian engineering firm and long run provider to the Australian Defence Drive and RAFAEL Superior Protection Techniques – a worldwide chief in Guided Weapons, seems ahead to maximising Australian participation in SPIKE LR2 native manufacturing and help together with the chance to provide superior energetics in Australia, enhancing current native Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance capabilities and rising an upskilled excessive know-how workforce”.
The SPIKE LR2 ATGM is a fifth technology precision guided weapon system, chosen by Australia for the LAND 400 Program and the LAND 159 Lethality System Program. Already ordered by eleven different nations, the missile’s choice by the Australian Defence Drive (ADF) might be augmented by an in depth Switch of Expertise (ToT) program that can upskill Australian trade to ship home guided missile manufacturing and complete in-service help to the ADF. VRA’s ToT leverage’s confirmed RAFAEL processes and expertise in establishing native manufacturing and help capabilities delivering a Sovereign Guided Weapons Manufacturing functionality, excessive know-how native content material jobs and upskilling of the Australian work drive.
Spike is an Israeli fire-and-forget anti-tank guided missile and anti-personnel missile with a tandem-charge HEAT warhead, presently in its fourth technology. It was developed and designed by the Israeli firm Rafael Superior Protection Techniques. It’s out there in man-portable, vehicle-launched, and helicopter-launched variants. In addition to partaking and destroying targets throughout the line-of-sight of the launcher (“fire-and-forget”), some variants of the missile are able to making a high assault via a “fireplace, observe and replace” methodology (basically lock-on after launch); the operator monitoring the goal, or switching to a different goal, optically via the trailing fiber-optic wire (or RF hyperlink within the case of the vehicle-mounted, long-range NLOS variant) whereas the missile is climbing to altitude after launch. That is much like the lofted trajectory flight profile of the US FGM-148 Javelin.
