SINGAPORE — A joint venture between Israeli and Singaporean defense firms has revealed more details of its Blue Spear sea-skimming missile at the Singapore Airshow, emphasizing its flight profile and mission-planning capabilities.
Video released by Proteus Advanced Systems— made up of Israel Aerospace Industries and ST Engineering Land Systems — stated that Blue Spear’s flight profile and mission execution are programmable by its operators but could also be highly automated, depending on mission requirements.
IAI has said the fifth-generation surface-to-surface missile is designed to prevail in contested, congested and complex situations, even when pitted against increasingly sophisticated countermeasures.
Speaking to Defense News at the Singapore Airshow, Ron Tryfus, general manager of Proteus Advanced Systems, said the Blue Spear 5G SSM’s advanced data link could be used in a fire-and-update mode in addition to a fire-and-forget profile.
The onboard data link also allows the missile to be tracked in flight by operators.
However, Tryfus declined to directly answer whether the missile can be re-programmed to attack different targets when already in flight, instead telling Defense News that customers will be able to define what kind of midcourse updates the missile is capable of when used in fire-and-update mode.
He also touched on the relationship between the Blue Spear and the Sea Serpent missiles; the latter is a specific variant being offered by IAI and Thales for the British Royal Navy’s anti-ship missile. Tryfus said IAI is taking part in the British competition on behalf of Proteus.
Product brochures confirm the missile is more than an anti-ship weapon and can be used against onshore targets in littoral, open-ocean and overland environments.
Estonia selected Blue Spear for coastal defense and will be mounting the system on trucks carrying the missile-launch boxes within 20-foot containers. Tryfus noted there are no plans for an air-launched variant.
In a news release, IAI said that the missile system delivers an agile, highly penetrative, combined anti-ship and land attack capability with a range of 290 kilometers (180 miles) at a subsonic, albeit high, speed.
The missile deploys an active radar homing seeker and advanced weapons control system to provide precise target detection and engagement. It can also operate day or night under all weather conditions.
Defense News had previously reported that ST Engineering’s land systems division is responsible for the design, development and production of major subsystems like the booster motor and insensitive munition warhead, which is rated at 150 kilograms (330 pounds).
Mike Yeo is the Asia correspondent for Defense News.
