Raytheon Pike mini-missile

[eshelon]

http://www.raytheon.com/news/feature/guided_weapons.html

"Miniaturized weapons not only require microscopic electronics, but something to protect them from the crushing G-forces that their launchers create. Raytheon's engineers have made advances on both fronts: The company's laser-guided Pike™ munition is nearly as narrow as some large-caliber ammunition, while the microelectronics in Raytheon's Excalibur artillery shell can withstand bullet-like acceleration – 0 to 760 mph in a fraction of a second.
“We’ve come really far. Now we have, basically, smart munitions you can hold in the palm of your hand,” said Frank Antenori, a former U.S. Army Special Forces soldier who now manages the Pike program for Raytheon Missile Systems.
Smaller circuit cards and better shock protection for electronics made guidance feasible for precision mortars and artillery shells. Now, miniaturized guided weapons – rockets, artillery, GPS-guided mortars, radar-seeking and anti-armor weapons – are likely to become a major part of ground warfare, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work said in a recent speech at the U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania.
“We're not too far away from guided .50-caliber rounds,” Work said.
Raytheon's Pike weapon measures 40 mm in diameter, only a half-inch smaller than the 25 mm rounds fired by some military machine guns like those in the F-35 fighter jet and the M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle. Soldiers can fire the two-pound, foot-and-a-half long Pike munition from a rifle-mounted grenade launcher.
The benefit for ground troops: A lightweight precision weapon that doesn't tether them to a vehicle launcher. Using a laser designator that resembles a pistol, one soldier points at a target such as a light enemy vehicle, while another fires the munition. The goal, as with all precision weaponry, is to save innocent lives.
“When you have the capability to send something a mile and a half and hit within five yards or less of a bad guy, you are achieving what our troops have always wanted – take out a specific target and minimize collateral damage," Antenori said.
The Pike munition contains a rocket engine, which accelerates more slowly than a bullet or artillery shell. But engineers are also building guidance systems that can withstand the more jarring acceleration of those weapons."

Summary:
diameter: (only) 40 mm
weight: 0,9 kg
length: 0,46 m
guidance: semi-active laser
range: 2,4? km

- - - -

Pike is similar to "The Sniper" precision ammunition concept from MBDA Concept Vision CVS101 (40 mm, 900 gram, 38 centimeters, 1500 meters)

 

[Avimimus]

Raytheon's Pike weapon measures 40 mm in diameter, only a half-inch smaller than the 25 mm rounds fired by some military machine guns like those in the F-35 fighter jet and the M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle.

Say what? ...either meant larger ...or really doesn't understand metric.

 

[sferrin]

Raytheon's Pike weapon measures 40 mm in diameter, only a half-inch smaller than the 25 mm rounds fired by some military machine guns like those in the F-35 fighter jet and the M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle.

Say what? ...either meant larger ...or really doesn't understand metric.

That and "but something to protect them from the crushing G-forces that their launchers create"

A missile launch doesn't subject it's internals to anywhere near the forces those inside an artillery shell have to endure. That said, I wonder what kinds of targets they have in mind for this thing, and how much does each missile cost?

 

[bobbymike]

Raytheon's Pike weapon measures 40 mm in diameter, only a half-inch smaller than the 25 mm rounds fired by some military machine guns like those in the F-35 fighter jet and the M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle.

Say what? ...either meant larger ...or really doesn't understand metric.

That and "but something to protect them from the crushing G-forces that their launchers create"

A missile launch doesn't subject it's internals to anywhere near the forces those inside an artillery shell have to endure. That said, I wonder what kinds of targets they have in mind for this thing, and how much does each missile cost?

The unguided version of these were produced decades ago when well known scientist Wile E. Coyote attached wings onto sticks of dynamite and released dozens from a hot air balloon. IIRC, they were pretty indiscriminate he would have much preferred guided munitions.

 

[sferrin]

Raytheon's Pike weapon measures 40 mm in diameter, only a half-inch smaller than the 25 mm rounds fired by some military machine guns like those in the F-35 fighter jet and the M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle.

Say what? ...either meant larger ...or really doesn't understand metric.

That and "but something to protect them from the crushing G-forces that their launchers create"

A missile launch doesn't subject it's internals to anywhere near the forces those inside an artillery shell have to endure. That said, I wonder what kinds of targets they have in mind for this thing, and how much does each missile cost?

The unguided version of these were produced decades ago when well known scientist Wile E. Coyote attached wings onto sticks of dynamite and released dozens from a hot air balloon. IIRC, they were pretty indiscriminate he would have much preferred guided munitions.

Despite not having a guidance system they were notoriously adept at achieving own-goals. ;D

 

[Speedy]

http://www.raytheon.com/news/feature/guided_weapons.html
“We're not too far away from guided .50-caliber rounds,” Work said.

Hmm, actually Sandia Labs test guided .50 round in 2012:

http://www.defensereview.com/sandia-labs-self-guided-bullet-laser-guided-50-caliber-saboted-round-coming-for-the-u-s-ordnance-m2hb-qcb-quick-change-barrel-ma-deuce-heavy-machine-gun-hmg-meet-the-possible/

 

[Triton]

"AUSA 2015: Raytheon's long-range Pike"
12th October 2015 - 20:43 by Tim Fish in Washington D.C

Source:
http://www.shephardmedia.com/news/landwarfareintl/ausa-2015-dangerous-pikeys/

Raytheon has developed a mini-rocket called Pike to offer infantry units a cost-effective long-range anti-personnel capability.

The PGM-ER Pike is a 40mm system that can be launched from a M320 or ELGM grenade launcher and weighs just 1.7lb.

It is designed for infantry or SF squads so they can have a light-weight munition capable of matching adversaries equipped with RPGs.

James Smith, director of Advanced Land Warfare Systems at Raytheon, told Shephard that Pike has a small propellant to ‘kick’ the round out of the tube. It has a semi-active laser and can follow a laser designated target.

Pike can be used by one person firing it from the grenade launcher and then using the laser designator, or in a two-man team with a gunner and spotter. Pike does not have to use the laser designator for up to 15 seconds after launch.

There is a USB connector to programme the laser designator code so that it will follow the right signal and can be compatible with any laser designator.

For longer ranges the grenade launcher has to be fired at a higher angle and shorter ranges at a lower angle. The semi-active laser has a wide field of view that can pick up the laser designators’ energy reflection off the target after it has reached the apogee of its flight. The target can move and if still designated Pike can take account of that.

Smith said Pike can achieve distances of over 2km and that the company had already completed two guided inert test firings that were observed by the US Army and achieved an accuracy within 5m. He added that the warhead weighs only sixth-tenths of a pound and has lethality out to 10m using blast fragmentation.

According to Smith, SF have articulated a requirement so Raytheon has invested in developing the system over the past three years in collaboration with Nammo Talley, which has developed the warhead and propulsion system.
He said that the advantage of Pike is that it is guided, has a longer range than RPGs or grenades, weighs much less and is cheaper than Javelin.

The next step is for Raytheon to partner with a military to continue development as the company wants to conduct live shots and to work on different fuses to add capability. Smith said that with a development contract Raytheon could build production systems in 18 months.

He added that Pike would not fit in a M203 underslung grenade launcher because the munition would not be able to fit into the loading system so would therefore require modification. However it is an interesting prospect.

 

[Triton]

"Raytheon Unveils New Mini Missile for Special Forces, Infantry"
by Brendan McGarry on October 12, 2015

Source:
http://defensetech.org/2015/10/12/raytheon-displays-new-mini-rocket-for-special-forces-infantry/

Raytheon Co., the world’s largest missile maker, unveiled a new miniature laser-guided missile for Special Forces and infantry troops.

The Waltham, Massachusetts-based company displayed a model of the so-called Pike precision-guided munition on Monday at the Association of the United States Army’s annual conference in Washington, D.C.

“What’s enabled this is the miniaturization of electronics,” James R. “J.R.” Smith, director of advanced land warfare systems at Raytheon’s missile systems unit in Tucson, Arizona, said during an interview with Military​.com.

Measuring just 17 inches long and 1.5 inches wide and weighing just 1.7 pounds, the projectile has a range of about 2 kilometers and is designed to be fired from existing rocket-propelled grenade launchers, such as the M203 and ELGM, Smith said.

While the munition will cost more than a unguided rocket-propelled grenade, it would be orders of magnitude cheaper than the FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missile some troops now carry, he said.

A lot of what our Special Forces teams are dealing with when they’re engaging someone at range right now … they’re sitting there and they’re using a .50-caliber machine gun or firing rocket-propelled grenades, they’re not hitting the target and they’re being out shot by a lot of these bad guys,” Smith said. “So how do they deal with that now?

“They pull out a Javelin, which is a pretty expensive weapon,” he said. “Whereas you could take one of these. I guarantee you this will be a tiny fraction of the cost of a Javelin.” The Javelin is made by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin Corp. And while the Pike will have less stopping power than the Javelin, it will feature a blast-fragmentation warhead sufficient for taking out two people behind a wall, he added.

Smith wouldn’t say how much internal research and development funding the company spent on the project, but he said the effort has been underway for about three years. In May, Raytheon successfully tested two Pike munitions with dummy warheads at a private range in Texas, he said. The technology is compatible with any kind of properly coded laser designator, he said.

“It sees the reflection of laser energy off the target,” he said. “It’s looking for that laser energy. As it hits its apogee and it starts coming downhill, it will see its laser spot … You don’t even have to start by lasing. You can launch it, just as long as you get the laser on it before it hits its apogee and starts coming down. For a long shot like that, you could probably lase 15 seconds after launch.”

An M203 launcher beneath an M4 rifle would need to be modified to accept the round, Smith said. “The ones that are underneath the M4 carbines now, they can’t swing out far enough to slide it in,” he said. “It only sticks out so far. So they would have to modify that.”

Raytheon officials are talking to Army personnel about helping to fund additional testing of the design to include live-fire exercises, Smith said.

 

[lastdingo]

http://defense-and-freedom.blogspot.de/2015/10/raytheons-pike.html

quote from there:

At first glance it's a "game changer", and you can find such comments on the internet already.

There's still the comment I made in regard to Spike years ago, though:
<blockquote>
</blockquote> It looks like a (weak) silver bullet, but the most pressing problem against competent and well-equipped opposition isn't so much the killing - it's the detection and identification. It's been possible to take out identified opposition at long ranges before - the key problem is that the battlefield seems to be empty as everyone who's really competent is either camouflaged, behind concealment, behind cover or impossible to identify in an ocean of contacts (civilians or decoys).

An opponent learns from experience - and an opponent who faced a great quantity of Pike missiles will quickly learn to avoid their effect by denying this enemy the spotting and identification required for launching a scarce and expensive round. This is similar to long-range sniping; it mostly suppressed the enemy's visibility - the attrition effect is not that great even on terrains with long lines of sight.
What's the utility of the suppression of the enemy's visibility at longer ranges than possible with rifles? You end up knowing less about the enemy, after all.

 

[Triton]

"Miniature Pike munitions go 2-for-2 in first guided tests"
Raytheon's guided 40 mm rounds provide precision, lethality and extended range

Source:
http://raytheon.mediaroom.com/2015-10-12-Miniature-Pike-munitions-go-2-for-2-in-first-guided-tests?sf13851668=1

TUCSON, Ariz., Oct. 12, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) successfully fired two new Pike 40 mm precision-guided munitions from a standard tube grenade launcher during flight tests at Mile High Resources in Texas. Both rounds landed within the targeted impact area after flying more than 2,300 yards.

"Pike uses a digital, semi-active laser seeker to engage both fixed and slow-moving, mid-range targets," said J. R. Smith, Raytheon's Advanced Land Warfare Systems director. "This new guided munition can provide the warfighter with precision, extended-range capability never before seen in a hand-held weapon on the battlefield."

Weighing less than two pounds and measuring just 16.8 inches in length, Pike can be fired from a conventional, single-shot grenade launcher such as the M320 or EGLM (Enhanced Grenade Launching Module). Pike's rocket motor ignites eight to 10 feet after launch and is nearly smokeless for reduced launch signature.

"Pike will become smarter and smarter as we continue to develop its capabilities," said Smith. "In the current configuration, the warfighter will enter programmable laser codes prior to loading Pike into its launcher. Spiral development calls for multiple-round simultaneous programming and targeting with data link capabilities."

Additional Pike upgrades include the ability to fire it from platform-mounted launchers on small boats, all-terrain vehicles and small unmanned aircraft systems.

 

[Triton]

https://youtu.be/vftDTZChRQw

 

[Triton]

Size comparison chart.

 

[Abraham Gubler]

Once again Gene Simmons has shown the rest of us what the future will look like. From 1984:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKdT7SOBxgQ