The signatories to the government-to-government agreement for the Spike missiles were Eyal Zamir, director general of Israel’s Defense Ministry, and Aristeidis Alexopulos, head of Greece’s General Directorate for Defense Investments and Armaments, according to Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, which makes the weapon.

“This project joins a series of agreements between the State of Israel and the Hellenic Republic, and further emphasizes the strong partnership between our countries and our defense establishments, as well as our mutual commitment to ensuring regional stability,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement distributed by Rafael.

The sale follows last week’s purchase of the Israeli-made air defense system David’s Sling by Finland, which recently joined Greece as a NATO member. Israel’s International Defense Cooperation Directorate, which is part of the Defense Ministry, led the agreement for the export of the naval-, air- and land-based missiles.

Spike weapons comes in several variants and include electro-optical technology for precise targeting. Rafael’s website says 39 nations use the weapon, and that it has sold about 30,000 missiles, which can fire from 45 different platforms.

Of those users, 19 are members of the EU and/or NATO.

“This agreement with the Hellenic Ministry of National Defense is yet another expression of the strategic partnership between Israel and Greece. It is part of a series of agreements worth billions of shekels which we have signed in the last two years, including the recent update of the Greek Air Force Pilot Training Center’s capabilities,” Zamir said in the Rafael statement.

Anti-tank missiles are among the weapons proving popular in Europe since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

For its part, Greece has committed €19 million in military aid to Ukraine from Jan. 24, 2022, to February 24, 2023, according to the Kiel Institute, which tracks support to the war-torn country.

Additionally, 13,287 civilians were injured over the past 12 months, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights found. Explosive weapons — including artillery shells, airstrikes, as well as cruise and ballistic missiles — caused about 90.3% of civilian casualties, the office added.

As Ukraine continues to bolster its forces with Western arms, Moscow is using unorthodox methods to depreciate Kyiv’s military prowess. On Feb. 24, 2022, Defense News published information on the weapons inventories of Russia and Ukraine, based on data from the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Military Balance+ database. The following is an updated version, with footnotes at the bottom of this article.

• Data as of November 2022.
• Armored Fighting Vehicles are armored combat vehicles with a combat weight of at least 6 metric tons.
• Surface-to-Surface Missile Launchers are launch vehicles for transporting and firing surface-to-surface ballistic and cruise missiles.
• Artillery is made up of weapons — such as guns, howitzers, multiple-rocket launchers and mortars — with a caliber greater than 100mm for artillery pieces and 80mm and above for mortars, capable of engaging ground targets with indirect fire.
• Air Defense includes guns, directed-energy weapons and surface-to-air missile launchers designed to engage fixed-wing, rotary-wing and uninhabited aircraft. Systems primarily intended to intercept missiles rather than aircraft are excluded.

Palmer Luckey, who helped design the virtual reality set Oculus Rift, opened Irvine, California-based Anduril in 2017. The company specializes in software development and artificial intelligence.

This latest funding increase — dubbed “Series E” — is credited with “nearly doubling the company’s previous valuation in June 2021,” the company said in a statement. Startup firms go through a series of funding, with what is generally the first or second round dubbed Series A.

Series A money is meant to help pay employees, optimize a startup’s products and develop a marketing strategy, according to the employment website Indeed. If a company survives a period of six months to two years with that early funding, it can then seek Series B funding, and so on.

“The new funding will enable Anduril to accelerate research and development to bring new, cutting edge, autonomous defense capabilities to the market and continue to mature and scale its current business lines with the U.S. Department of Defense as well as U.S. allies and partners,” the company said. “Anduril is building software-defined and hardware-enabled capabilities that solve mission needs with autonomy, today. Autonomous systems will enable the military to operate faster and at greater scale across both tactical and strategic operations.”

The funding was led by Valor Equity Partners, which previously invested in Anduril, with participation from Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, 8VC, Lux Capital, Thrive Capital, DFJ Growth, Elad Gil, Lachy Groom, Human Capital, Marlinspike, WCM Investment Management, MVP Ventures, Lightspeed Ventures and the US Innovative Technology Fund.

Anduril won a $1 billion contract in January from U.S. Special Operations Command to lead its counter-drone systems integration work. And it’s part of a team lead by American Rheinmetall Vehicles that’s competing to build a replacement for the U.S. Army’s Bradley infantry fighting vehicle.

Trainers stopped a simulated assault by targeting the tank crew’s radio and communication systems during the exercise at the Army’s National Training Center in Fort Irwin, California.

“These tanks had to stop, dismount, get out of their protection, reduce their mobility,” Capt. George Puryear, an Irregular Operations Officer at Fort Irwin said. The vulnerability allowed the tanks to be easily defeated.

The Army Rapid Capabilities Office and U.S. Cyber Command are working on technology to protect against cyber and electronic warfare attacks.

The broad category of cyber warfare includes jamming communication signals and infiltrating networks, both of which were demonstrated during the exercise. If a network is successfully infiltrated, it can be disabled or manipulated, allowing enemies to halt communication or relay false information to troops.

The demonstration allowed the Army to explore the possibilities of infiltrating civilian networks to subdue the populace and invade territories, an official told Defense Systems.

These exercises help the Army determine the technology that is needed in the field, and the Army RCO helps to develop and distribute the needed technology. The technology is not only focused on offensive and defensive strategies, but also part of an effort to obtain protection capabilities using EW and cyber, as well as having GPS alternatives, which are being explored.

Fort Irwin and Europe will continue to test and train cyber offensive and defensive weapons because “if we don’t win the cyber and EW fight, then the [next] maneuver may not matter, because we may not get it,” Maj. Gen. Wilson A. Shoffner, director of operations at the Army RCO, told Defense Systems.

After being released from the missile, the payload of “quad-copters” would decelerate, identify targets, land on the targets and detonate attached munitions, which the solicitation calls “explosively formed penetrators (EFP).”

“The ultimate goal is to produce a missile deployable, long range UAS swarm that can deliver small EFPs to a variety of targets. This will serve as a smart augmentation to the standard missile warhead,” according to the Department of Defense request.

Possible targets named in the solicitation are tanks and large caliber gun barrels, vehicle roofs, fuel storage barrels, and ammunition storage sites.

While the technology is meant for military use, “other payloads could be used for remote sensing into dangerous/hazardous areas,” the solicitation stated.

Earlier this month, the Pentagon in a test launched a swarm of 103 Perdix microdrones from three separate F/A-18 Super Hornets. The swarm demonstrated advanced behavior such as “collective decision-making, adaptive formation flying, and self-healing,” according to a DoD statement.

Applications for the Army’s air platform request are due Feb. 8.