The Whiskey Project Group, Whiskey Bravo with Rafael Spike NLOS

Shortly after publishing “Is the Coast Guard Going to Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight? A Gun to a Missile Fight?” I ran across this post from Interesting Engineering, “US Marines get next-gen missile-launching boats with helicopter-like striking power” which reported,

In a significant milestone for Australian defense manufacturer The Whiskey Project Group, the company has successfully delivered its first batch of four multi-mission reconnaissance boats to the U.S. Marine Corps…These boats are equipped with cutting-edge capabilities and technology to increase their operational adaptability for the Navy and Marine Corps use.

The Whiskey Bravo’s integration with Rafael’s Spike NLOS (Non-Line of Sight) missile system is one of its primary characteristics.

This might lead you to believe the boats delivered to the Marines are equipped with the Spike NLOS (non-line of sight), but that is unlikely. I have seen no indication the Marines are adopting Spike NLOS, although it is currently being used as an interim solution by the US Army from AH-64 attack helicopters.

Still, it does seem like the type of weapon the Coast Guard could use on its Patrol Craft since two four cell launchers can be mounted on an 11.9 meter boat. This illustrates how adaptable such weapons can be. Less capable systems like Hellfire or JASM are smaller and lighter and the APKWS is far smaller still.

The Navy has no combatants close to the size of Coast Guard patrol craft. It is not surprising that they have shown little interest in lighter weapons, sized for vessels smaller than frigates. When the Coast Guard considers how to arm their smaller ships and negotiates with the Navy, perhaps they should look at weapons used on Marine Corps helicopters, boats, and vehicles, they should all be light enough to fit on patrol craft. That the Navy has begun to look at unmanned surface vessels suggests there might be growing shared interest in weapons for smaller vessels.

The Marines are probably not interested in Spike NLOS because the US is developing a comparable or better similar sized missile. Spike NLOS is the Army’s “interim Long Range Precision munition.” so presumably something else is being developed.

“US MARINE CORPS AND L3HARRIS LAUNCH FIRST LONG-RANGE PRECISION FIRE IN TRAINING RANGE DEMONSTRATION”

NAVAIR reports tests of a “longe range precision fire capability.”

The event was successfully executed at Yuma Proving Grounds (YPG) in Yuma, AZ where an AH-1Z conducted single launch by way of a wireless application via Marine Air-Ground Tablet (MAGTAB).

(That the Marines are looking for an RHIB of this size, is interesting. Wonder if they would fit in the Bertholf class NSCs stern ramp. The Whiskey Project Group (TWPG) is setting up a manufacturing facility in North Carolina.)

The Whiskey Project Group, Whiskey Bravo with twin quad launchers for Rafael Spike NLOS

Though I doubt we will see wide spread use of the Spike NLOS by the US, I will pass along some information I’ve learned about the system and some videos of it in operation,

Spike NLOS is marketed through Lockheed Martin.

Rafael has a US branch.

There is a specific Naval version of Spike NLOS and a four cell rotating launcher.

It is really pretty small:

Bulgarian Army Land Cruiser 70 with Spike NLOS Mk. 5 at HEMUS 2022. Photo credit: Petrovbg via Wikipedia

“At a weight of 1,350 kg, the launcher and eight missiles are mounted on the small vehicle, enabling the small crew to attack ground targets with pinpoint precision from 30 km away.”