Israel's Rafael eyes deeper collaboration with Poland's defence sector
The Israeli defense company Rafael, which already produces Spike missiles in Poland, is expressing readiness for closer collaboration with Polish companies and the military. The offer includes, among other things, the Trophy system for actively protecting armoured vehicles from missiles and drones.
Rafael is one of the largest Israeli arms manufacturers and has been present in Poland for many years. In the Świętokrzyskie MESKO plants, Rafael's Spike LR anti-tank missiles are produced. These missiles—used manually or installed on vehicles like the Rosomak transporters—have become one of the main types of anti-tank weaponry in the Polish Army. They are part of the armament of the unmanned ZSSW-30 turret, installed on the new Borsuk infantry fighting vehicles.
As company representatives assure, Rafael is ready to integrate Spike missiles with additional platforms. This involves the currently developing program of Polish tank destroyers, which are light vehicles armed with anti-tank weapons. As Igal Helemski, Rafael's regional director, mentioned in an interview with PAP, this could include platforms such as helicopters, including the American AH-64E Apache combat helicopters ordered by the Polish army.
Helemski also declared readiness to increase the company's industrial involvement in Poland. This involves, as he said, launchers and other equipment accompanying missiles, as well as increasing the involvement of Polish firms as partners and subcontractors.
Rafael also declares readiness to sell to Poland—and partially produce in the country—the Trophy system, which is an active protection system for armoured vehicles.
Such systems are designed to protect armoured vehicles—tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, transporters, or self-propelled howitzers—from various threats, such as incoming missiles or hostile drones. The general principle of the system is to detect an incoming threat—a drone or a missile—using a sensor system and to fire small counter-missiles intended to destroy the threat. The manufacturer assures that the system can detect and track multiple threats simultaneously.
The need to protect armoured vehicles with such systems is, as experts point out, one of the conclusions drawn from the war in Ukraine, where many tanks and other vehicles were destroyed by kamikaze drones.
In recent weeks, the Polish Armament Agency has declared an interest in acquiring such systems. As reported by the Defence24 portal, considered systems include Trophy and the competitive Iron Fist system, produced by another Israeli company, Elbit Systems. Iron Fist is currently mounted on some CV90 infantry fighting vehicles used by Sweden, the Netherlands, and Slovakia.
Trophy system in Korean K2 tanks
The Trophy system is installed and used in combat on Israeli Merkava tanks. A lighter version has also been developed, adapted for installation on lighter vehicles such as infantry carriers.
As Helemski emphasized, Trophy is currently the most advanced and tested system of its kind in the world, used by the armed forces of Israel, the U.S. on M1 Abrams tanks, as well as in the UK and Germany.
In Poland, the Trophy system would initially be installed on K2 tanks, which Poland is currently ordering from South Korea, and in the future, it is planned to be produced in a localized version in domestic plants. In subsequent stages, it could be adapted—as Rafael assures—to other vehicles used in the Polish Army.
