Almost 2 weeks ago, a friend of mine made a comparison between the utilized in the Polish Army Spikes LR and the presently proposed by the Americans Javelins.
With his permission, I put this comparison in here, but taking part in my editorial work.
The dimension of the bullet in the container: - Javelin - 121 cm Spike LR - 114 cm Weight of the set (container + CLU + tripod): - Javelin - 15.1 kg + 7 kg + 4 kg - Spike LR - 13.3 kg + 10.5 kg + 2.8 kg Guidance: - Javelin - Fire-and-Forget - Spike LR - Fire-and-Forget or Fire-Observe-and-Update (after breaking fibre optics at location for Fire-and-Forget) Tracking head: Javelin. Infrared. - Spike LR - infrared, cooled and tv (CCD) Cooling time CLU: - Javelin - 2.5 minutes - Spike LR - approx. 10 minutes
Minimum operating capacity temperature:
- Javelin - -32 °C - Spike LR - - -50 °C Operating modes: - Javelin: 1. FF, IR, low trajectory (ceiling: 65 m) 2. FF, IR, advanced trajectory (ceiling: 150 m) - Spike LR: 1. FF, IR, low trajectory 2. FF, IR, advanced trajectory 3. FO, IR, low trajectory 4. FO, IR, advanced trajectory 5. FF, CCD, low trajectory 6. FF, CCD, advanced trajectory 7. FO, CCD, low trajectory 8. FO, CCD, advanced trajectory and any combinations utilizing trajectory, tracking heads, manual mode, optical break capability, etc. Flight time: - for 1000 m distance: Javelin (6 seconds), Spike (7 seconds) - for a distance of 2500 m: Javelin (15 seconds), Spike (15,5 seconds) - for distance 4000 m: Javelin (26 seconds; theoretically), Spike (26 seconds).
When I first published this comparison personally, I received any questions about it. Therefore, I will enrich the comparison with my own description of "situation".
1. What is the comparison of the ability to fire these 2 ppk?
In the case of a ppk top-attack with a tandem cumulative head, the parameters (i.e. armor penetration) do not play a major function due to the fact that these missiles attack armour targets on the side of the ceiling and in the extremethe case of a front plate at right angles or close to consecutive angles.
In the case of western tanks, the front plate is tiny - even in Abrams (justly considered to be 1 of the world's best armored tanks) the front plate is 2 inches thick (i.e. 50.8 mm).
In the case of russian tanks, the advanced plate is the thickest component of the armor, nevertheless Spike or Javelin attacks it at a right angle. In this case the effective thickness of the attacked armor ranges from 100 (T-55) to 205 mm (T-80U), while the declared penetration of the ppk presented here is 700-1000 mm RHAe.
2. Why at the value of 4000 m for Javelin did I mention "theoretically"?
Javelin's problem is his CLU becauseit limits the effective scope of FGM-148 to 2500 m due to its parameters. Above that value, the only thing you can see is 1 large heat spot. Currently, designers are working on a fresh CLU for Javelin, thanks to which effective scope ppk is to increase to 4,750 m, but this CLU is not proposed to us. 3. Spike has a very long cooling time of the tracking head, which makes him unfit for usage and disqualifies him as an effective weapon
As mentioned in comparison, the CLU tracking head in Spike is two-spectral, so while cooling the IR head, the ppk operator can usage an optical track at all times that no longer needs this cooling. However, in Javelin, the operator must trust solely on the IR head and the battery in the CLU allows it to be cooled without an external power origin for a maximum of 7 hours. Moreover, the multispectrality of Spike's head allows you to double the above-mentioned weapon system, as the head itself allows you to simultaneously guide as many as 2 missiles, which is very crucial erstwhile the ASOP is presently spreading. If you have any more questions about that, you can contact me.
