Rafael’s Spike Team Trainer for Tactical Training

The NATO forces in Afghanistan have been predominantly using Rafael’s Spike family of multi-purpose precision-guided missile systems for the infantry. Rafael is making an aggressive pitch for the Spike family, including the Spike Team Trainer (STT), for the Indian armed forces.

In a presentation to SP’s editorial team, Rafael experts explained how the STT provides tactical training for a Spike combat team. It enables the training of single gunners, section and integrated platoons. STT facilitates training of the unit’s full operational sequence from standard operating procedures (SOP), deployment, target acquisition and engagement, repositioning, and battle damange assessment through debriefing.

Seeral Spike Indoor Trainers (IDTs) are connected to offer a simulated battlefield where training for several Spike combat teams is simulataneously conducted. Each Spike section conducts the training session in a separate training room, in order to simulate reality in which the various Spike sections deploy separately but still maintain mutual dependence.

The simulated battlefield scenery is transmitted into the eyepiece of the gunner’s command launch unit (CLU) and the commander’s binoculars, which also serve as a laser ranger finder (LRF) and compass. It’s projected on to wide panoramic screen to simulate the real scenery viewed from the Spike’s section’s point of view. Spike section commanders communicate by simulated radio communication using a tactical headset and can deploy in different locations to view the battlefield from a variety of attack positions.

SPIKE FAMILY

The Spike family consists of Spike MR (man-portable and platform-adaptable, operating in a fire and forget mode with a target range of up to 2.5 km); Spike LR (a fourth-generation lightweight fire and forget plus with a range of up to 4 km); Spike ER (a multi-purpose, multi-platform missile system for ranges up to 8 km); and the Spike NLOS (multi-purpose, multi-platform missile system with real time wireless data link for ranges up to 25 km).