Rafael unveils Ice Breaker deep strike missile system

The Ice Breaker air-launched, air-breathing air-to-surface missile is the baseline weapon system for what Rafael describes as ‘a family', including the Sea Breaker surface-launched variant. (Rafael Advanced Defense Systems)

Rafael Advanced Defense Systems unveiled a new, ‘fifth-generation', long-range, autonomous air-launched, air-breathing precision-guided air-to-surface missile system on 12 July.

Characterised by Rafael as ‘an aerial and artillery unit force multiplier', Ice Breaker is a day/night all-weather weapon system intended for use with a range of aerial platforms including fast jets, light attack aircraft, and rotary-wing platforms against a variety of high-value stationary or moving targets in both land and maritime domains. The new effector is optimised for deep strike operations, where precision is required in arenas protected by advanced electronic warfare, anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD), and Global Positioning System/Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GPS/GNSS) jam and denial systems.

Ice Breaker is the baseline weapon system for what Rafael describes as ‘the family', and from which the Sea Breaker stand-off, land/maritime surface-launched missile – unveiled by Rafael in June 2021 – is derived. “While we were able to unveil Sea Breaker, we couldn't reveal the Ice Breaker development at the time, because it was under a security embargo,” a Rafael spokesperson told Janes . Configured identically to Ice Breaker, although furnished with a lighter 107 kg penetrate, blast and fragmentation warhead, the surface-launched Sea Breaker derivative is canister-launched with a booster, which takes the launch weight of the all-up Sea Breaker missile system to under 400 kg.