Bundeswehr orders more Spike launchers and missiles

The Bundesamt für Ausrüstung, Informationstechnik und Nutzung der Bundeswehr (BAAINBw), Germany’s Federal Office for Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support, ordered 1,500 Spike missiles and hundreds of Integrated Control Launch Unit (ICLU) dismounted missile launchers from Eurospike for the German Army in early November, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems announced in a press release on 18 November.

The BAAINBw has signed a multi-year framework contract with Eurospike for MELLS missiles and ICLUs. (Rafael Advanced Defence Systems)

Eurospike is a joint venture formed by Rafael and German companies Diehl Defence and Rheinmetall Electronics to produce the Spike, known as the Mehrrollenfähige Leichte Lenkflugkörpersystem (Multirole-capable Light Anti-tank Missile System, MELLS), the Bundeswehr’s designation of the system. Rafael said the missiles and launchers would be produced in Germany, in line with the company’s global policy of teaming with domestic industry.

The order is the first under a framework contract with Eurospike allowing the Bundeswehr to continue to order more Spike missiles over the next few years, Rafael added.

The BAAINBw published the framework contract online on the EU’s Tenders Electronic Daily on 6 November for up to 11,500 MELLS missiles and 214 ICLUs, plus transport and storage containers. The minimum order foreseen by the BAAINBw is for 1,500 missiles and 132 ICLUs.

Neither the BAAINBw nor Rafael published the contract value.

This article, first published on 18 November 2019, is subject to a correction and has been amended.