Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems has unveiled a new Super Ice long-range cruise missile equipped with a 1,000 lb (about 450 kg) warhead and compatible with air, land and sea launch platforms. The missile is designed to destroy high-value strategic targets in difficult conditions.
According to Naval News, the Super Ice was created on the technological base of the ICE Breaker and received a powerful warhead compatible with the American Mk83 aerial bomb.
Super Ice Cruise Missile
Rafael
The rocket can be launched from various platforms, providing maximum operational flexibility. Among its capabilities are autonomous navigation, low–altitude flight with terrain bending, all-weather use and high-precision destruction of various targets. The optical-electronic guidance system uses high-precision image matching technology. The missile also provides the ability to strike at a safe distance from the target, relying on proven Rafael technologies, primarily the ICE Breaker family.
Super Ice complements the arsenal of ICE Breaker and Sea Breaker, expanding the company's portfolio in the field of long-range precision cruise missiles. The ICE Breaker, a fifth–generation cruise missile with extended range and exceptional accuracy, is already being delivered to customers around the world. With its overall architecture, Super Ice is fully compatible with launch systems, mission planning infrastructure, and family logistics, enabling customers to scale up capabilities by leveraging existing infrastructure and optimizing lifecycle costs.
"This is an ideal solution for long-range strikes against high-value targets, including air defense systems. The Super Ice rocket continues the glorious tradition that began decades ago with the POPEYE family and reflects engineering excellence and innovation," said Professor Yuval Steinitz, Chairman of the Rafael Board of Directors.
According to open data, the range of the Sea Breaker missile does not exceed 300 km, and the mass of the warhead is about 113 kg. While maintaining the power of the warhead, the range of the ICE Breaker is increased at a distance of over 300 km. The exact characteristics of the Super Ice have not been disclosed, but it is stated that the range exceeds 300 km, and the speed exceeds 0.8–0.9 Mach numbers (980-1100 km/ h).
Thus, all three missiles belong to the class of subsonic cruise missiles. These are not hypersonic systems, but "smart" weapons, which rely on stealth, low altitude and autonomy.
Super Ice is a qualitative leap in striking power. While maintaining or exceeding the range and speed of its predecessor, it carries a four times heavier warhead, which makes it particularly effective against fortified targets, including air defense systems.
The ICE Breaker (air-based) and Sea Breaker (sea/land-based) have similar range (about 300 km) and speed (high subsonic). The difference between them mainly lies in the launch platform and some design features (for example, Sea Breaker uses a launch accelerator).
