Israeli company Spear has developed a new variant of its Viper range of loitering munitions (LMs) designed to counter top-attack unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and LMs weapons targeting armoured vehicles.
Unveiled at the 2024 Association of the US Army (AUSA) exhibition, held in Washington, DC, from 14 to 16 October, the Viper I (‘I’ for Interceptor) has been designed as an add-on capability to the in-service Trophy AFV active protection system (APS) developed by Israel’s Rafael, complementing Trophy’s ability to counter missile and rocket-propelled grenade threats to an AFV by launching active countermeasures.
The Viper I has a high-velocity, high-power quadcopter configuration with a cylindrical body that is 4 inches ((101.6 mm) in diameter, meaning that it can be launched from Spear’s standard range of multi-canister launchers.
Leveraging the radars of the Trophy system, Viper Is can be launched by an AFV crew upon identifying a threat top-attack UAV or LM. The Viper I then flies at high speed to intercept the threat and detonates to destroy it.
As well as banks of Vipers Is being mountable on an AFV and integrated with its Trophy APS, another operational concept would be to deploy a ‘hive’ of Viper Is to protect against a swarming UAV or LM attack, Itamar Ben-Tovim, Spear’s chief business development officer, told ESD at AUSA 2024 on 16 October.
Ben-Tovim said the Viper I system is “currently at the stage of mutual development and testing with Rafael to address customer requirements”.
