Rafael Ice Breaker / General Atomics Bullseye

[Big_Zukini]

In 2021 Rafael unveiled the Sea Breaker, a 300km, 350kg missile with a 250lbs warhead and a stealth design.
A year later in 2022, Rafael unveiled the Ice Breaker, the main missile from which Sea Breaker was derived.
It was reportedly unveiled only after the Sea Breaker because of censorship. Although Rafael said they're still in negotiations over sales and that it's primarily made for export, the censorship on one variant is likely an indicator the IAF is also a customer. Its stealth design and General Atomics' statement today indicate with high probability that the Ice Breaker is integrated into IAF F-35I.



Unfortunately I cannot find the source, but in a clip shown on TV of officials touring a Rafael facility, there was footage of Ice Breaker's assembly line, so it's already in production as of 2025.

Link to unveiling of Ice Breaker in 2022:

Rafael unveils once-secret Ice Breaker missile

A Rafael official told Defense News the missile is nearing full-scale development and that the company has spoke with customers on three different continents regarding potential contracts.

www.defensenews.com

Link to Rafael's Ice Breaker page:

https://www.rafael.co.il/system/ice-breaker/

Today, 7th of April 2025, General Atomics announced they're partnering with Rafael to bring the Ice Breaker, renamed Bullseye, to the US market to fulfill both domestic needs and for FMS.
They reveal that an F-35 can fit 4 Bullseyes in its internal weapons bay.
Clarification: I saw one of the articles saying it could fit 4 in an F-35 internal bay, but I can't seem to find it now. So ignore it.

Rafael goes particularly hard on the affordability strategy with products like Iron Dome, David's Sling, and now the Ice Breaker though without providing exact cost.
Sorry I'm not an acronym fan so I don't know what programs the US has for affordable cruise missiles but this could be a solid contender in these if my theory it's already in operational use by IAF is true.

Link to announcement:

General Atomics Partners with Rafael to Build Precision-Guided Missile for U.S. Defense Customers

General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) announced today that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., Israel to be their partner and the U.S. prime contractor to manufacture a long-range, precision-guided strike missile.

www.ga.com

Link to product page:

Bullseye

Introducing Bullseye™, a long range, precision-guided missile enabling significant attack performance against high-value targets at an affordable cost.

www.ga.com

Little bonus:
EDR say the Ice Breaker can be fitted with either a 250lbs or 500lbs warhead, and now TWZ also confirm it.

PAS 2023 - Rafael evolves its airborne weaponry and introduces a new air-to-air 6th generation missile - EDR Magazine

A 6th generation air-to-air missile being was unveiled by Rafael at the 2023 Paris Air Show.

www.edrmagazine.eu

 

[VishnuOsiris]

It will never happen, but I would love to see the real cost-bases for some of these weapons. Ice Breaker looks amazing, but expensive. I would include some of their breakthrough sUAS (not to get off topic) like the Nitzotz (Spark) platform, which look to be game-changing if one can afford them. I would also love to hear speculations about what these things may cost compared to American systems.

 

[Forest Green]

Israeli firm Rafael, General Atomics ink deal to produce 'Bullseye' missile stateside - Breaking Defense

Bullseye will leverage the design of Rafael's Ice Breaker missile.

breakingdefense.com

Bullseye Standoff Weapon Based On Israeli Cruise Missile Unveiled By General Atomics

The Bullseye standoff precision-guided missile is being offered to the U.S. military as a lower-cost weapon that can be quickly manufactured at scale. The Bullseye standoff precision-guided missile is being offered to the U.S. military as a lower-cost weapon that can be quickly manufactured at...

www.twz.com

US-Israeli industry team pitches ‘Bullseye’ long-range missile

The vendors highlighted the “very low observable” stealth characteristics, autonomous target recognition, and resilience in GPS-denied environments.

www.defensenews.com

 

[Big_Zukini]

It will never happen, but I would love to see the real cost-bases for some of these weapons. Ice Breaker looks amazing, but expensive. I would include some of their breakthrough sUAS (not to get off topic) like the Nitzotz (Spark) platform, which look to be game-changing if one can afford them. I would also love to hear speculations about what these things may cost compared to American systems.

Expensive because it's VLO?
I honestly don't know how much the process costs but I remember the cost target is under $150k and some of the proposals, Lockheed's comes to mind, are LO designs.
So I'm guessing that alone is not a big factor, and the price target may also indicate where it's currently at.
Definitely not going to be a $1 million missile like the jism.

By the way if LM and other vendors can provide a cruise missile below $150k that's a huge shift away from premium prices we see on everything.

 

[Big_Zukini]

Israeli firm Rafael, General Atomics ink deal to produce 'Bullseye' missile stateside - Breaking Defense

Bullseye will leverage the design of Rafael's Ice Breaker missile.

breakingdefense.com

So 1,200 missiles already on order and delivery starting this year. Nice.

Hear that Europe?

 

[VishnuOsiris]

Expensive because it's VLO?
I honestly don't know how much the process costs but I remember the cost target is under $150k and some of the proposals, Lockheed's comes to mind, are LO designs.
So I'm guessing that alone is not a big factor, and the price target may also indicate where it's currently at.
Definitely not going to be a $1 million missile like the jism.

IMO The IDF, because of the close proximity of their adversaries, to include those of customers like Azerbaijan, tends to focus on high-end, short-range tactical systems. Higher-end than other comparable systems, because they add additional sensors. An example would be the SPICE kits which appear to be JDAMs with "man in the loop" POV targeting as well. I'm also curious how deep their own stocks of these weapons could possibly be, and how often they use them in combat. To my eyes, a good deal of the Israeli defense industry is focused on exports, and they would appear to use more generalized systems like JDAMs for the real-deal, because of the practical cost efficiencies.

 

[Big_Zukini]

IMO The IDF, because of the close proximity of their adversaries, to include those of customers like Azerbaijan, tends to focus on high-end, short-range tactical systems.

Interestingly, I don't think any Israeli defense company has officially stated a range exceeding the 200-300km range for an air launched weapon system. At least not that I'm aware of. Systems that very clearly exceed it, like the Air LORA or ROCKS, don't have a stated range. Although LORA itself in its ground launched version had a stated 300km range which evolved to 430km likely through lighter warhead. I think that's the only exception.

But is that really the range the IDF needs?
Arguably the most complex targets are those far away from Israel. Like Iran, Yemen. There Israel had to employ expensive ALBMs.
If the IAF could conduct low cost strikes on Iran, at low cost and without flying vulnerable and rusting tankers above hostile airspace, that would be a tremendous capability.

In all releases related to Ice Breaker they say its range is in excess of 300km. Exactly what that excess is, remains to be seen.

Higher-end than other comparable systems, because they add additional sensors. An example would be the SPICE kits which appear to be JDAMs with "man in the loop" POV targeting as well. I'm also curious how deep their own stocks of these weapons could possibly be, and how often they use them in combat.

SPICE is a pretty exceptional example. It is indeed a high end solution, but that's because the JDAM family is already very cheap and manufactured in large scale.
Just about a month ago the US approved an FMS sale of 5,000 x 1,000lbs bombs and JDAM guidance kits, and 40,000 x 2,000lbs bombs. The latter without JDAM guidance kits but that's possibly a separate sale.

So that's one of those cases of Israel buying American stuff for cheap and filling the high end with its own.
Another such case would be Hellfires vs Spikes on IAF helos.

But when it comes to air defense, Israel does the opposite. American products are prohibitively expensive and Israel develops its own stuff at much lower cost, but that doesn't make it higher end. Stuff like Iron Dome and David's Sling and Arrow are about as cost effective as they get, but I don't believe they technically exceed their American peers in a 1:1 comparison. And that's intentional.

For very high end, IAF has stuff like ALBMs of which it's believed to have a wide variety, but these are all very long range systems.

It also has low end stuff but these in turn are very short range systems.
Admittedly it's possible the Rampage was designed for cost efficiency, and one might assume Ice Breaker would be a high end solution, but it's intentionally pitched to the US as a very cost effective solution.
It's not that they're inherently mutually exclusive. I think it's higher end than IAI's Wind Demon and Harpy/Harop.

So in conclusion the IDF buys locally both high end and low end solutions, but most commonly it buys the most affordable things. Frequent and intense wars dictate that defense be done for as cheap as possible.

To my eyes, a good deal of the Israeli defense industry is focused on exports, and they would appear to use more generalized systems like JDAMs for the real-deal, because of the practical cost efficiencies

Yeah. Even in wartime the defense industries sell most of the stuff abroad.
But let's be real: One of the biggest reasons Israel gets critical domestic weapons for so cheap is because it funds a lot of the R&D and orders R&D to its needs. But with such setup, the IDF knows well in advance that it only gets this benefit on a select number of critical items.

 

[kqcke for you]

Expensive because it's VLO?
I honestly don't know how much the process costs but I remember the cost target is under $150k and some of the proposals, Lockheed's comes to mind, are LO designs.
So I'm guessing that alone is not a big factor, and the price target may also indicate where it's currently at.
Definitely not going to be a $1 million missile like the jism.

By the way if LM and other vendors can provide a cruise missile below $150k that's a huge shift away from premium prices we see on everything.

I mean a lot of the cost can come from electronics and that stuff. But with this one can assume they mostly reused existing stuff which definitly reduced cost. Wasnt the engine also an TRI-60-30?

 

[Hanse]

Expensive because it's VLO?
I honestly don't know how much the process costs but I remember the cost target is under $150k and some of the proposals, Lockheed's comes to mind, are LO designs.
So I'm guessing that alone is not a big factor, and the price target may also indicate where it's currently at.
Definitely not going to be a $1 million missile like the jism.

By the way if LM and other vendors can provide a cruise missile below $150k that's a huge shift away from premium prices we see on everything.

JASSM is that expensive because it delivers a 1,000lb warhead.

 

[Big_Zukini]

I mean a lot of the cost can come from electronics and that stuff. But with this one can assume they mostly reused existing stuff which definitly reduced cost. Wasnt the engine also an TRI-60-30?

On Wikipedia at least it says that's the engine.
While Rafael utilizes RF seekers on both low and high end products, it's really the EO that's Rafael's focused on.
Popeye, SPICE, Spike, ROCKS, now Ice Breaker and I'm sure I'm missing some - all likely shared at least some seeker components over the years.
I wouldn't be surprised if it's sharing a lot with the SPICE kit, up to just straight up duplicating it.

Since there's terminal guidance you don't need an ultra expensive INS. A basic one will do. TERCOM/DSMAC will get you up to around the target. The brochure says it uses TERCOM but it could be a mistake and use a DSMAC with existing EO seeker. After all, they do say it does scene matching, but don't mention DSMAC. I'm assuming for them they're synonyms.
Ok so that saves the RF altimeter.

They add an anti-jam GPS, which is something whose cost I don't know how to estimate.

Honestly even if I were to design a high end cruise missile in my garage I wouldn't know how to get it over a $150k figure.
If the USAF & USN are serious about this, there are many ways they can aggressively drive down costs.

 

[Scott Kenny]

SPICE is a pretty exceptional example. It is indeed a high end solution, but that's because the JDAM family is already very cheap and manufactured in large scale.
Just about a month ago the US approved an FMS sale of 5,000 x 1,000lbs bombs and JDAM guidance kits, and 40,000 x 2,000lbs bombs. The latter without JDAM guidance kits but that's possibly a separate sale.

As I understand it, the JDAM kit is the same regardless of which bomb you put it on. Same strakes etc. Advantage of the Mk80 designs, they all have a very similar nose fuze diameter and tail assembly diameter (and all have the same threads for nose fuze and same threads for tail assembly). All the JDAM-ER kits are the same, too, IIUC.

So that sale would be 5000 JDAM kits, with 40,000x2000lb and 5000x1000lb bombs to use them on.

 

[kqcke for you]

On Wikipedia at least it says that's the engine.
While Rafael utilizes RF seekers on both low and high end products, it's really the EO that's Rafael's focused on.
Popeye, SPICE, Spike, ROCKS, now Ice Breaker and I'm sure I'm missing some - all likely shared at least some seeker components over the years.
I wouldn't be surprised if it's sharing a lot with the SPICE kit, up to just straight up duplicating it.

I mean they probaly use the same design with newer iterations (keeping the standard)

Since there's terminal guidance you don't need an ultra expensive INS. A basic one will do. TERCOM/DSMAC will get you up to around the target. The brochure says it uses TERCOM but it could be a mistake and use a DSMAC with existing EO seeker. After all, they do say it does scene matching, but don't mention DSMAC. I'm assuming for them they're synonyms.
Ok so that saves the RF altimeter.

I mean given modern tech having both DSMAC and TERCOM isn't really a problem or hard so...

They add an anti-jam GPS, which is something whose cost I don't know how to estimate.

Honestly even if I were to design a high end cruise missile in my garage I wouldn't know how to get it over a $150k figure.
If the USAF & USN are serious about this, there are many ways they can aggressively drive down costs.

There was that 1 Guy WHO wanted to build one himself for like 5000$ around 2004. While He was stopped by the goverment sutch development isn't hard and gets cheaper when you do the engine alone for example.

The X-Jet Engine

A new revolution in pulsejet engine technology

aardvark.co.nz

 

[TomS]

They reveal that an F-35 can fit 4 Bullseyes in its internal weapons bay.
Clarification: I saw one of the articles saying it could fit 4 in an F-35 internal bay, but I can't seem to find it now. So ignore it.

A newer EDR article says it fits in the envelope of Spice 1000, which fits in an F-35 bay but only one per bay.

Rafael provides details on its Ice Breaker cruise missile - EDR Magazine

Yuval Miller, Rafael’s Air and C4ISR Systems Division Executive VP and GM, gave EDR On-Line details about the Ice Breaker air-launched cruise missile.

www.edrmagazine.eu

 

[Forest Green]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ziQsbpOfv8

 

[VishnuOsiris]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ziQsbpOfv8

The comments beginning at 1:56 are quite interesting, discussing the partnership with Rafael. Very vague, but it sounds like the negotiation process was quite complex. Great video, thanks.