TSAMTO, April 11. The Israeli Defense Ministry announced the signing of an intergovernmental agreement with the Greek military department for the supply of Spike anti-tank missile systems to Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd.
The agreement was signed by the Director General of the Israeli Defense Ministry, Reserve Major General Eyal Zamir, and the Director of the Directorate General of Defense Investments and Armaments of the Greek Ministry of Defense, retired Vice Admiral Aristeides Alexopoulos.
The implementation of the project will be supervised by the Department of International Defense Cooperation of the Ministry of Defense of Israel (SIBAT). Its total cost is estimated at 370 million euros.
On March 29, the Council of the Greek Government for Foreign Affairs and Defense (KYSEA), chaired by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, approved the purchase of Spike NLOS (Spike Non-Line-of-Sight) missile systems and missiles for them.
According to Jane's Defense Weekly, the purchased weapons will be delivered to units of all three types of the Greek Armed Forces.
Thus, the KYSEA Council approved the purchase of 17 Spike NLOS complexes and 340 missiles for anti-tank units of the Greek Ground Forces in the amount of 270 million euros ($293 million).
The purchase of 100 Spike NLOS missiles for arming AH-64A Apache attack helicopters has been approved for the Greek Air Force Command. Their cost will be 45 million euros. As part of this project, the modernization of 19 AH-64A helicopters by the Israeli company Elbit has also been approved. The budget of this project will be 40 million euros. Nine of the 19 helicopters will be certified for the use of "Spike NLOS".
Finally, KYSEA approved the purchase of four Spike NLOS complexes for equipping patrol boats of the Greek Navy and four more Spike ER2 systems with 55 missiles for installation on special purpose speedboats in the amount of 55 million euros.
As reported by TSAMTO, for the first time it became known about the negotiations of the Greek Ministry of Defense with the Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd on the purchase of Spike NLOS complexes at the end of 2022. It was planned to purchase 27 complexes of this type for a total of 370 million euros (374.8 million dollars).
According to Greek media, the Spike NLOS procurement program provides for the broad participation of companies of the national defense industry complex, but the details of this contribution are not yet clear.
ATGM "Spike NLOS" (non-line-of-sight) was developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. This is an anti-tank / anti-personnel missile of the "shot and forgot" class with a tandem high-explosive fragmentation warhead. ATGM can be used by infantry operating on foot, placed on vehicles and helicopters. The mass of the ammunition in the TPC is 71 kg .
The Spike operator tracks targets by receiving a picture over a stretching fiber-optic cable or over a radio channel. The wireless data transmission line ensures that the operator receives a video image from the rocket's GPS in real time along the entire flight path. The operator can modify or abort the mission while the munition is in flight. The firing range of the 6th generation Spike NLOS missile, the development of which Rafael announced in June 2022, is 50 km when launched from a helicopter and 32 km in the ground version.
