India to procure 1,000 Rafael SPICE air-to-surface missiles

India’s Protection Acquisition Council (DAC), headed by Minister of Protection Rajnath Singh, yesterday accepted intensive procurement for an general $8.7 billion. Among the many many arms included within the deal are SPICE 1000 steering kits (SPICE 1000/Mild Hail) manufactured by Israeli firm Rafael Superior Protection Methods, in response to studies within the Indian media.

SPICE is a household of exact and autonomous air-to-ground weapon techniques, with a variety of as much as 100 kilometers, with three kinds of bombs of various weights. SPICE 1000 weighs about 500 kilograms, and all the system, developed by Rafael, has gained the Israel Protection Prize. The distinctiveness of the SPICE household is the power to navigate and residential in on the goal autonomously, independently of GPS, utilizing an electro-optical homing head that comes with an revolutionary mathematical algorithm, which compares the goal picture to what it sees in actual time and thus achieves extraordinarily excessive hit accuracy of lower than three meters.

India’s preventing with Pakistan in Might highlighted the nation’s want for arms in numerous techniques typically and from Israel specifically. This was clearly mirrored in early November when the Director Common of the Ministry of Protection, Maj. Gen. (res.) Amir Baram, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen safety cooperation along with his Indian counterpart, Rajesh Kumar Singh.

Israel protection industries largest buyer

In response to the Stockholm Worldwide Peace Analysis Institute (SIPRI), India is the most important buyer of Israeli protection industries, accounting for about 34% of all exports between 2020 and 2024. Final month, the IDRW web site reported {that a} delegation from the Indian Ministry of Protection had secretly arrived in Israel, to achieve agreements that might result in India procuring Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Air LORA ballistic missiles and Rafael’s Ice Breaker cruise missiles, however would additionally manufacture them itself.

Earlier studies in India have already indicated that India needs Air LORA missiles following the good success of the Rampage missiles within the latest preventing with Pakistan. Rampage has a variety of about 250 kilometers, and the Indian Air Pressure makes use of it on Sukhoi 30 and MiG 29 plane. Rampage may be very correct, however its vary is about 150-250 kilometers, which places Indian fighter jets in danger towards Pakistani protection techniques made in China. In distinction, Air LORA has a variety of about 400 kilometers, and with it fighter jets can hit targets, with out endangering themselves from superior air protection techniques.

Air LORA, developed at IAI’s MLM plant, is designed to hit missile websites, army bases and air protection techniques. The missile weighs about 1,600 kilograms, flies at supersonic pace, and makes use of satellite tv for pc navigation that is protected against jamming. One in every of its most notable benefits is the “launch and neglect” methodology, that means it’s launched to the goal and doesn’t have to be guided alongside the way in which. Its warheads are numerous and may be designed to hit gentle targets or bunkers. With a variety of about 400 kilometers and a strike radius of solely about ten meters, it’s anticipated to permit India to hit any Pakistani base.

India can also be within the Rafael’s Ice Breaker cruise missile, which is designed for assaults at ranges of about 300 kilometers towards land and sea targets. The missile is efficient in all climate situations, can operate nicely in environments saturated with digital warfare, and has infrared (IIR)-based navigation and missile steering capabilities, which, by way of AI, can purchase and determine targets.

Printed by Globes, Israel enterprise information – en.globes.co.il – on December 30, 2025.

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