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Estonian Center for Defense Investment (ECDI) has signed a contract with Proteus Advanced Systems Pte. Ltd., a joint venture company of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and ST Engineering Land Systems (ST), to equip the Estonian Defense Forces with Blue Spear (5G SSM) land-to-sea anti-ship missile systems.
The project, with tight timescales and encompassing a complex set of requirements, is one of the biggest and most complex projects in Estonian defense procurement.
“This is a very advanced, operational proven system, leading the sea battlefield by its capabilities and based on IAI’s many years of experience in the field of missiles, particularly with the Gabriel missile family,” said Proteus Advanced Systems’ General Manager, Ron Tryfus.
“The strong cooperation of IAI and ST Engineering expresses the capabilities of the two companies in developing advanced battle systems. The Blue Spear system, being the advanced member of the Gabriel missile heritage, will serve as the next generation of surface to surface missile systems.”
The Blue Spear missile system shares a heritage with IAI’s Gabriel missile family system which has been developed over many years. Blue Spear is an advanced precision weapon which can operate in all weather conditions, day and night and enables strike capabilities beyond the line of sight, against mobile and stationary targets at sea, with a maximum range of 290 km.
The Blue Spear system enables launching from several land-based platforms with flight at high sub-sonic speed. The warhead employs an active radar-homing seeker, accurate INS-based navigation capabilities and a robust system which is immune to GPS disruptions and maximal accuracy target acquisition. The systems are equipped with a variety of deception means to achieve its mission and cope with the different battle-field challenges.
“This is one of the most complex and high-tech weapon systems of all time and a huge leap forward for the Estonian Defense Forces,” said the Minister of Defense of Estonia.
“I am very glad that Estonia has a defense industry capable of participating in such high-tech projects.”
