A multi-year, multi-million-dollar contract has been awarded by the US Department of Defense (DoD) to Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to develop and deliver the new hybrid electro-optically guided missile.
IAI has unveiled its POINT BLANK electro-optically guided missile, that can be carried in a soldier’s rucksack. The system answers the battlefield requirement to provide tactical units ranging in size from small tactical teams to battalion level,with an independent and capability to increase their lethality.
POINT BLANK allows these units to attack a variety of targets in real time with great precision and high lethality, without the need for support. The missile is hand-launched, operated by a single soldier and can take off from and land vertically back to the soldier’s hand.
IAI as prime contractor, has been awarded a multi-million-dollar contract by the Warfare Technical Support Directorate (IWTSD) of the DoD to rapidly develop and deliver ROC-X, a version of the POINT BLANK system that meets specific US DoD requirements for the prupose of increasing the strike lethality and survivability of small tactical teams.
POINT BLANK weighs approximately 15lbs and is 3ft long. The missile can fly at altitudes above 1500ft at a maximum speed of 178mph and can hover or loiter in the air while the target’s position is confirmed, prior to attack.
Thanks to IAI’s advanced manufacturing technologies, the missile can carry electro-optical systems to validate and collect surveillance information in real time, and it is also being developed to be equipped with a warhead.
“POINT BLANK joins Israel Aerospace Industries’ family of missiles, to provide ground-based tactical forces with more precise capabilities to undertake offensive operations especially against short-lived targets. We wish to thank the IWTSD for its support and cooperation in the field of precision munitions, confirming, yet again, the importance of tactical missiles to the modern army,” explained Guy Bar Lev, IAI’s Executive VP Systems, Missiles & Space Group. “IAI continues to develop and improve a wide range of offensive systems which provide precision operational solutions, and stands firmly to support our US customers.”
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