Rafael Demonstrates Guidance Kit for Autonomous Standoff Strikes
Israel's Rafael is showing its Spice precision guidance kit, designed
for Mk 84/M-2000 type bombs, and IMI's advanced IDP enhanced penetration
weapon. With a total weight of 2,350 lbs the 4.2-meter-long Spice
features a dual-mode electro-optical sensor, (derived from the
Spike ER missile), ring laser gyro-based inertial navigation unit,
GPS position location system, autopilot and flight control system.
A Spice-equipped bomb is capable of precision strike from a standoff
range of up to 60 kilometers when launched from F-16-class aircraft
at an altitude of 42,000 feet. With its efficient aerodynamics,
Spice hits the target at Mach 0.9-an important factor in its penetration
performance.
Target acquisition and deployment is relatively simple. The pilot
has to fly to a predetermined launch 'basket,' where he can select
the specific target from a list stored inside Spice's memory.
Several targets are preloaded to each weapon, with target data,
route navigation and scene details stored on a detachable memory
unit, which can be loaded on the weapon before takeoff.
After launch, the bomb glides through a preplanned flight path,
and at a predetermined location its EO sensor takes over as a
'pilot,' and navigates to the target by visual scene and terrain-matching
aided by inertial and GPS data. Spice's stabilized wide-view EO
sensor and search for the target over a broad area. At visual
range the sensor searches for the target and once it is identified-by
comparison to visual image or models stored in the weapon's memory-it
locks-on and will continue to pursue the attack even if the target
is obscured by smoke, clouds or countermeasures.
Since the sensor is locked onto the target throughout the terminal
guidance phase, positive verification is provided as the target
image becomes bigger and more detailed, enabling the weapon to
hit accurately and avoid guidance, location and identification
errors and GPS jamming. The weapon can recognize the exact shape
of the target, derived from intelligence data. Spice can home-in
on minute and specific details, thus assuring high precision and
minimum of collateral damage. Independent from laser designation,
Spice can also maintain high impact angles, resulting in deeper
penetration of hard targets.
Rafael offers an optional datalink to provide battle damage assessment.
As an autonomous standoff weapon, Spice is more capable than PGMs
such as laser-guided weapons and JDAMs, but is offered at considerably
lower cost when compared to powered autonomous standoff weapons
such as the Storm Shadow and JASSM.
