Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1064315
According to the American MAGTF Antiarmor Operations textbook, the firing ranges in Central Europe are as follows: Ä over 2,500 m (6% of cases) Ä over 2,000 m (10%) Ä over 1,500 m (17%) Ä over 1,000 m (45%) Ä over 500 m (67%) Polish and German reports say that the direct firing range in Poland is 1,500 m (96%) at most, and over 3/4 of battles are fought at a distance of up to ca 850 m. And such will be the maximum range of the FGM-148 in most cases. The fiber-optic guided Spike has a tremendous advantage here thanks to the option of BLOS firing – when a missile is launched and the target is marked when the missile travels along its uphill-shaped part of the trajectory. In other words – a Spike operator does not have to see the target in the CLU. It's enough they have information with the enemy's location. It doesn't matter if it's provided via BMS, UVA, or by a scout with a telescope because the target may be fired at over a distance of 4 km in the manual mode, and even of over 4.5 km in the automatic mode after it is pre-marked for the F&F mode. This, of course, affects the tactics of use of the two systems. First, Spike operators do not have to get exposed to enemy direct fire – they can fire missiles hidden behind an earth embankment, a hill, a building, etc. Javelin operators have to change their positions basically once every missile fired. Maybe once every two. Second – the standard distance of battles fought in Europe, which is below 1 km, will mean that Javelin operators will have very little time for shooting. The duration of the procedure during firing (excluding initial cooling of the CLU) is about 40 s for Javelin Block 0 and about 20 s for Javelin Block I, and the launcher reloading time is 20 s. This means that the theoretical time to load another missile, mark it in the CLU, and launch it in the new Block I is still 40 s. A vehicle moving at a speed of 20 km/h across the battlefield will cover a distance of ca 220 m with such a time. Americans say, after all, that the Javelin is able to fight up to three targets within 2 minutes. Again, we need to bear in mind the standard distance of European battles – which is about 850 m in 3/4 of cases. Spike operators, in turn, are able to indicate the target and launch the missile in the F&F mode within less than 15 s, which is quicker than in the case of the Javelin, and the missile will pursue the target by itself. The main attack mode is "fire, watch, correct", though, where preparing the missile takes 15 s, and the guidance within its trajectory takes 7 s, 15.5 s, and 26 s for 1 km, 2.5 km, and 4 km respectively. There is also a quick procedure that lets a Spike user launch the missile within 7-10 s, but then it is necessary to correct the trajectory or to mark the target for the F&F mode. Targets may be then combated at the system's maximum range (4.5 km) in the BLOS mode. It's enough to know the target's approximate location in azimuth. As a result of combining different types of guidance solutions, a single Spike launcher is able to shoot a few times more mis- siles than its Javelin counterpart. Or we can fire at the same number of targets using fewer launchers – provided that we know the targets' locations. The options to correct the missile's trajectory or to guide it manually make the Spike offer a few more advantages the Javelin does not have. First, it is possible to choose a target of a higher priority after the missile is launched. We can also fire at original targets not detected in the CLU. It's possible to set the location of the attack precisely – the roof of the turret, the hull, the engine compartment, and even the lid of the commander's or the driver's hatch. Importantly enough, the Spike is able to fight targets protected by means of soft kill systems because there is a human factor in the decision loop. It is also capable of manag- ing with hard kill protection systems to some extent, owing to the very specific attack and target approach trajectories. Simply speaking, the Spike offers a much greater flexibility and guidance reliability than the FGM-148. This comes at the cost of 7-26 s longer manual guidance (or its correction), but the actual range is not 850-1,500 m but 4,000-4,500 m, which makes a huge difference. The Javelin's clear advantage is the minimum firing range – in the direct attack mode, it is only 65 m, which is over three times lower than that of the Spike (200 m). LAND FORCES