India has strengthened its border near Pakistan and reportedly deployed its Spike Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) amid a rising number of ceasefire violations. Spike is fire-and-forget anti-tank guided missile and anti-personnel missile with a tandem-charge HEAT warhead and is designed by the Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.
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India’s Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane on Thursday revealed that the country has boosted security by deploying troops and weapons such as Sig Sauer assault rifles and Spike anti-tank missiles along the Line of Control (LoC), its de facto border with Pakistan in the Kashmir region.
Stating that Pakistan is attempting to push terrorists in India, the Indian army chief insisted that most of the terrorist infiltration attempts have been foiled, according to Sputnik International.
The Indian Army had approved the “emergency purchase” of 240 Spike anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) made by Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense System to meet immediate operational requirements.
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India’s Financial Times had earlier reported that the Indian Army was given the green light to purchase the Israeli ATGMs after the February 2019 military standoff between India and Pakistan following airstrikes in Balakot.
The decision to procure the 240 ATGMs and 12 launchers were reportedly made during the five-day biannual Army Commanders’ Conference in New Delhi, according to IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly.
The Spike ATGM can penetrate around one meter of armour and can be operated in either “direct attack or mid-course navigation based on target coordinates only,” facilitating defeat of long-range hidden targets with pinpoint accuracy, damage estimation and real-time intelligence.
The missiles – which can be fired from vehicles, helicopters, ships and ground launchers – feature advanced optical seekers, smart target trackers and various artificial intelligence features. Rafael has supplied more than 27,000 Spike missiles and systems to over 26 countries, including to the Philippines, Lithuania, Australia and India.
