Belgian Army Spike Weapons Order

16/01/2013 by Paul Fiddian - Armed Forces International's Lead Reporter

The Belgian Ministry of Defence has ordered 60 Spike shoulder-mounted weapons systems to take over from the Milan anti-tank light infantry missiles in current Belgian Army service.

These weapons systems will be used in conjunction with Spike-MR (medium range) missiles, fitted with tandem-charge HEAT warheads.

The Spike missiles will be delivered by Eurospike - a consortium established between Rheinmetall Defence Electronics, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Diehl BGT Defence nine years ago.

Belgian Spike Order

Prior to the Belgian Spike order, another design - Raytheon and Lockheed Martin's Javelin anti-tank system- was thought to be in the running. Indeed, five months ago, DSCA - the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency - released a statement covering the proposed sale of Javelin launchers and missiles but that scenario's now been overtaken.

The Spike-MR weapon system is made up of a missile, a single-used canister, a tripod, a command launcher and a thermal sight. The system's ready to use within a 30 second timeframe and, after it fires, it can be reloaded within 15 seconds. It's also got a 2,500 metre range, while another version of this system - the Spike-LR - can strike targets located a maximum of 8,000 metres away.

Spike Weapons System

Alongside the Spike order, Belgium is also acquiring 111 Panzerfaust 3 anti-armour weapons, through a contract placed last month. Equipped both with Spikes and Panzerfaust weapons systems, Belgian Army warfighters will be better-placed to train with their Dutch colleagues, who already have these technologies in service.

The Belgian Army was originally formed in 1830 but the modern day version is divided into four elements: the Land Component, Air Component, Medical Component and Marine Component. Of these, the Land Component presently employs around 12,000 troops and its equipment includes Iveco Light Multirole Vehicles, Piranha infantry vehicles and Iveco 8T troop transporters.

Spike variants equip a whole host of nations including Chile, the Czech Republic, Finland, Italy, Poland, South Korea and Spain.