Royal Thai Army receives Rafael Spike missile systems

Under a deal reached earlier this year, the Southeast Asian military took delivery of the missiles and launchers 

Royal Thai Army receives Rafael Spike missile systems

Photo: Rafael

Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems announced Monday that the Royal Thai Army (RTA) recently received a supply of Rafael's Spike MR missiles and launchers following procurement of the missile system earlier this year. 

The RTA selected the Spike MR (Medium Range) variant after a process of evaluation, and procured its first batch of missiles and launchers designated for its 6th infantry division, Rafael said. 

The Spike MR is an electro-optical Fire & Forget missile with a range of 2.5 km. It is part of the wider Spike missile family, which consists of five variants (SR, MR, LR2, ER2, NLOS) of electro-optical, multi-purpose, multi-platform missiles, with ranges of up to 32km and fire-and-update capabilities. The Spike has been sold to 35 countries, including 19 NATO nations, with over 33,000 missiles already supplied and more than 6,000 fired in tests and in combat. SPIKE missiles have been integrated onto 45 different vehicular, helicopter and naval platforms, according to the company.  

Roman Palarya, director of marketing and business development at Rafael's Precision Tactical Weapon Systems directorate, said "We are very proud that the Royal Thai Army has selected the Spike missile. Spike has been in use in Asia for more than 20 years, and the selection of the Spike missile by the RTA strengthens the Spike missile user base in Asia."