Context

The Army is set to place a repeat order for Spike-LR (Long Range) Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM) from Israel as part of emergency procurement. The emergency procurement comes in the backdrop of continuing tensions on LAC with China.

About

• The decision comes days after the Army’s decision to place a repeat order for 72,400 Sig Sauer assault rifles from the U.S.
• The Spike order will be a repeat order for 12 launchers and around 250 missiles under emergency procurement.
• Last year, the Army procured 12 launchers and around 250 missiles from Israel under the new financial powers for emergency procurements sanctioned by the Defence Ministry after the Balakot airstrike.
• Under the new emergency powers, armed forces were given a free hand to procure equipment worth up to ?300 crores on a priority basis with deliveries stipulated to be completed in three months but extendable up to six months. Entirely new systems not in use were also allowed to be procured under the new powers.
• The Army has a much larger requirement for ATGMs which will be met through indigenous Man-Portable ATGM under development by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Spike-LR long-range Anti-Armour Missile

• Rafael, based in Haifa, Israel, manufactures the Spike family of anti-armor weapons.
• The Spike family includes:
  • Spike-SR with a range of 800m
  • Spike-MR (Gill) with a range of 2,500m
  • Spike-LR with 4,000m range
  • Spike-ER (formerly known as NTD Dandy) with a range of 8,000m.
• Spike-LR is the 4^th generation Anti-Tank Missile.
• It is a portable anti-armor weapon system with a range of up to 4km, which can be operated in fire-and-forget mode and the fire, observe and update mode using the fibre-optic data link.
• Spike-LR is equipped with a fibre-optic data link guidance system, which sends commands to the missile from the launch system and receives, into the gunner’s field of view, images from the seeker. The gunner can update his aim point while the missile is in flight using the fibre-optic link. As well as update target information, the datalink allows the gunner to switch targets and also receive real-time intelligence and perform battle damage assessment.
• The Spike system can work in non-line-of-sight (NLOS) mode allowing the gunner to operate from a covered position.
• Spike-LR, which can also be installed on light combat vehicles, can be used to engage tanks, armored vehicles, hardened shelters, and low flying slow targets such as helicopters.

Sig Sauer SIG716

• Amid the ongoing dispute with China over boundary issues, the Indian Army decided to place another order of 72,000 Sig 716 assault rifles from the United States.
• It will replace the existing Indian Small Arms System (Insas) 5.56x45mm rifles used by the forces and manufactured locally by the Ordnance Factories Board.
• India had acquired the first slot of the rifles under the fast-track procurement (FTP) programme.
• Around 1.5 lakh imported rifles will be used by the troops in the counter-terrorism operations and frontline duties on the Line of Control (LoC), the remaining forces would be provided with the AK-203 rifles, which are to be produced jointly by India and Russia at Amethi ordnance factory.