The Spike NLOS missile
After the US Marine Corps command completely abandoned the tanks last year, the search for an adequate replacement began. The main task is to make the Marines more dangerous to the enemy than before. As we wrote earlier, the United States is preparing for the possible seizure of Chinese military bases on artificial islands in the South China Sea, where the use of tanks is ineffective.
One of the possible options for replacing the finally "decommissioned" M1A1 "Abrams" can be high-precision anti-tank systems that can be installed on simple ground launchers, as well as on light armored vehicles, helicopters and ships. In a recent article, the Deputy Commandant of the Marine Corps (USMC), Lieutenant General Eric Smith, mentioned a certain weapon system that has "15-20 times the range of fire than a tank gun." According to experts, he was referring to the Spike Non-Line of Sight (NLOS) tactical missile of the Israeli defense contractor Rafael.
The Spike NLOS missile
Spike NLOS is a guided weapon equipped with an electro-optical finder, and in fact, a system of infrared cameras that can detect a target regardless of the time of day and weather conditions. The fired missile communicates with the gunner operator wirelessly in real time during the flight. The operator has the opportunity to see on his screen how the missile flies to the target, reorients from target to target, and if necessary, the attack can even be suspended. In this case, Spike NLOS hovers over the battlefield, and the operator gets the opportunity to search for a more important target, for example, a column of tanks hidden behind a hill. The system has a range of 30 km. Spike NLOS is available with three types of warheads and can be used to destroy various objects – vehicles, lightly armored vehicles, tanks, deep bunkers and other engineering structures. Time will tell how justified it will be for USMC to replace the old proven M1A1 "Abrams" with systems similar to Spike NLOS.