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POINT BLANK electro-optically guided missile

On 19 January 2023 IAI unveiled its POINT BLANK electro-optically guided missile that can be carried in a soldier’s backpack. The system answers the battlefield requirement to provide tactical units ranging in size from small tactical teams to battalion level, with an independent and organic capability to increase their lethality.

A multi-year, multi-million-dollar contract was awarded by the US Department of Defense to IAI to develop and deliver the new hybrid electro-optically-guided missile. In January 2023, the Irregular Warfare Technical Support Directorate of the Department of Defense awarded Israel Aerospace Industries a multi-million dollar contract to rapidly develop and deliver a loitering munition known as "ROC-X" to provide ground-based tactical forces with more precise capabilities and improve the safety and security of United States warfighters.

It is the policy of the United States to support and encourage further defense collaboration with Israel in areas of emerging technologies capable of enabling the warfare capabilities of both the United States and Israel to meet emerging defense challenges. Israel is a global leader and innovator in the development of defense technology and is one of the closest foreign defense partners of the United States.

On September 14, 2016, the United States and Israel signed a 10-year memorandum of understanding reaffirming the importance of continuing annual United States military assistance to Israel (and other defense programs in areas such as missile defense, counter tunneling, and counter-unmanned aircraft systems) in a way that enhances the security of Israel and strengthens the bilateral relationship between the two countries.

Loitering munitions (LMs) are classified as relatively low-cost Group1 to Group 3 Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) designed to fill the capability gap between traditional Precision Guided Munitions (PGM) and Homing Missiles, LMs are often referred as suicide or kamikaze drones. Modern LMs are able to loiter and maneuver for relatively longer time over a pre-defined area with a terminal homing capability using high resolution electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) seekers equipped with an explosive warhead to effectively attack beyond line-of-sight high-value and time-sensitive targets, particularly in densely populated areas where targets may blend into civilian environment to make themselves difficult to identify and engage.

Unlike other types of UAS of equivalent size and weight, LMs are may not meant to be recovered after the mission is over. However, LMs are limited in what they can provide by themselves due to performance limitations and current launch methodologies. In 2019, Israeli Air Force (IAF) have conducted multiple SEAD/DEAD missions against the Syrian Short-Range Air Defense (SHORAD) Pantsir (SA-22) using the Israeli-made Group 3 semi-autonomous LM named Harop. In 2020, Harop and other loitering munitions have been also utilized by Azerbaijani military to strike and destroy Armenian S-300 and Pantsir systems in Nagorno-Karabakh during September and October of 2020.

During the war in Libya, swarms of Turkish-made Group 1 and Group 2 fully-autonomous LMs were used by the Government of National Accord (GNA) to conduct SEAD/DEAD against Haftar Armed Forces (HAF) Pantsir S-1; destroying up to 20 systems and causing total losses of $140 M. This case is considered as the first fully-autonomous combat attack in which LMs were able to find, track and attack targets without human intervention.

Between 2016 to 2022, swarms of Iranian-made Group 3 semi-autonomous LMs are used on weekly basis to conduct number saturation attacks against Saudi air defense systems, penetrating the kingdom's sovereign airspace, and attacking different critical infrastructures such as oil storage plants, water desalination plants, airbases and airports in Abha, Jizan, and Riyadh. Most notably, the major attacks that Saudi Arabia witnessed in Abqaiq and Khurais oil production facilities on the early morning of 14 Sep. 2019 by a swarm of 18 Shahed-136 UAVs launched from Iranian base Shahid Ardestani (Tab-5). Those attacks proved the unmatched capabilities of LM swarms to penetrate and suppress some of the most advanced long-range air defense systems; causing excessive damage and disruption at a strategic level.

Reconnaissance and strikes against moving targets continue as staple UCAV mission in asymmetric warfare against terrorist groups. For instance, MQ-9s deployed over 1,500 weapons against ISIS in Iraq and Syria on the ground. However, cost and manning requirements are major issues of using such large UCAVs in asymmetric warfare as a single MQ-9 unit can cost upwards of $64 million and requires a highly trained pilot and a sensor operator for as long as it is airborne. Another issue of using large UCAVs is the high possibility of being lost or shot down by surface-to-air missiles. Between 2016 to 2021, more than 26 UCAVs including MQ-9, RQ-4 Global Hawk, MQ-1B, MQ-1C, CH4, and Wing Loong II were lost or shot down in Yemen by basic SA-6 surface-to-air missiles.

Low, Slow and Small (LSS) UAS threats represent a diverse and dynamic threat that most of existing Integrated Air Defense Systems (IADS) and Counter-Unmanned Air System (C-UAS) technologies are facing in modern warfare. The more sophisticated the UAS threats are, the more difficult it is to neutralize them, especially if they are fully autonomously flown in swarms as they are more challenging be detected and engaged. If they were successfully detected by radars, the defending forces typically use high-performance long-range surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) to defeat them, which can lead to a high economic cost of such an engagement since traditional SAMs are designed to engage high-value aerial targets.

POINT BLANK allows small tactical 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 competitively awarded a multi-million-dollar contract by the Irregular Warfare Technical Support Directorate (IWTSD) of the US Department of Defense (DoD) to rapidly develop and deliver “ROC-X” a version of the POINT BLANK system that meets specific US DoD requirements for the purpose of increasing the organic precision strike lethality and survivability of small tactical teams. IAI will provide the first prototypes and training to DoD for Operational Testing & Evaluation in FY 23.

POINT BLANK weighs about 15 lbs and is about 3 ft long. The missile can fly at altitudes above 1,500 ft, at a maximum speed of 178 mph (186 kph) and can hover or loiter in the air while the target’s nature and exact 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 to destroy the target.

IAI’s Executive VP Systems, Missiles & Space Group, Mr. Guy Bar Lev said: “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. 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.”