Click to see full-size image. Via Twitter.
Israel may have approved the supply of Spike anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) manufactured aboard to Kiev forces, according to photos that surfaced online on June 9.
The photos show Ukrainian service members with a Spike LR ATGM. Observers speculated that the photos were taken in a training ground in Poland. The system seen in the photo was reportedly a Polish copy produced under license from Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.
The Spike LR missile, which is guided by imaging infrared, has a range of four kilometers and is armed with a tandem high-explosive anti-tank warhead.
Poland, a key military backer of the Kiev regime, ordered 2,675 Spike-LR missiles with 264 launchers from Israel in 2003 in a deal worth $425 million with deliveries completed by 2013. A follow-up order of an additional 800 Spike-LR missiles for use on Rosomak infantry fighting vehicles, in a deal including local production in Poland, was placed in 2015 with deliveries between 2019 and 2022.
Click to see full-size image. Via Twitter.
In the months following the start of the Russian military operations last year, several reports revealed that the United States was pressuring Israel to supply weapons, including Spike ATMGs, directly to Ukraine or allow the export of copies made aboard to the country.
Tel Aviv rejected the idea, back then. However, it took a political stance more supportive of Kiev and providing non-lethal military equipment to its forces.
The new photos indicate that Kiev forces are at least being trained on Spike LR ATGMs. It is still unclear if the systems will indeed be supplied, or if the decision to do so was taken with the approval of Israel.
The Spike LR offers nothing new from other ATGMs already supplied to Kiev forces, like the American-made FGM-148 Javelin and the French-made Akeron MP.
If Israel has indeed taken the decision to deliver lethal weapons to Ukraine, directly or indirectly, Russia could respond by arming Syria with advanced weapons, stepping up military cooperation with Iran or even by shipping Western weapons captured from Kiev forces to Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Hamas Movement in the Gaza Strip.
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