Rafael enhances SPICE 250 with advanced automatic target recognition capability

Rafael Advanced Defence System is in the final stages of equipping its SPICE 250 precision-guided stand-off glide munition with moving target detection and innovative pre-strike automatic target recognition (ATR) engagement capabilities.

Unlike the heavier SPICE (Smart, Precise-Impact, and Cost-Effective) 1000 and 2000 family variants – which are essentially electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) guidance and target acquisition add-on kits for 1,000 lb and 2,000 lb general purpose and penetration warheads – SPICE 250 is an all-up weapon system. Weighing 250 lbs (113 kg) and furnished with either a general purpose or penetration 75 kg class warhead, SPICE 250 is a lightweight day/night all-weather precision weapon with a stand-off range of 100 km and a stated circular error probable (CEP) of “better than 3m”. Equipped with a mid-body fold out wing assembly and rear cruciform tail control fin set, the SPICE 250 munition features an improved EO/IR guidance package, midcourse INS/GPS navigation, a two-way data-link, and a pre-set or cockpit selectable fuze options.

All three SPICE variants are equipped with an automatic target acquisition (ATA) capability: an autonomous electro-optic scene matching technology designed to overcome GPS-jamming, navigation, and target location errors in the engagement of fixed targets. On approach to the target, the scene matching algorithm compares the electro-optical image received in real-time via the weapon seeker with mission reference data stored in the weapon’s computer memory.

Rafael is augmenting the SPICE 250 with new software technologies that are “two leaps beyond ATA”, Gideon Weiss, deputy general manager, marketing and business development, Air & C4I Systems Division at Rafael Advanced Defence Systems, told Jane’s .