SPIKE hypervelocity rocket

If I recall correctly that is about half the CEP of modern rockets, and one third of those used in WWII?

The short flight time is also attractive.
 
So this was intended to give both the Cobra and the Avenger an extra punch against ground and air targets. Interesting. Would I be overly paranoid in suspecting that it got killed by politics rather than technical issues?
 
That would not be the first time.
May be that the HVM missile had the same destiny .
 
Althought SPIKE is unguided, I thought this thread better suited to the Missile section. And we already
have several threads about unguided rockets or rocket systems here, like the Javelot.
Just in the same way, Bill Gunston did, in his "Encyclopedia of Rockets and Missiles" .. ;)
 
$500 per rocket? Make them inexpensive so we can afford to buy and fire a lot of them? Clearly, this team was a group of "outsiders" to the defense industry. ;)
 
cluttonfred said:
$500 per rocket? Make them inexpensive so we can afford to buy and fire a lot of them? Clearly, this team was a group of "outsiders" to the defense industry. ;)

Everything is affordable before the military buys it.
 
Just the thing that interceptors needed back in the last days of the pre-missile era, when large volleys of unguided rockets were the only way forward beyond guns. Yes, a Zuni or a Mighty Mouse will blow the wing off a Soviet bomber and this will not; but given that so much of a modern military aircraft is full of critical things, it's not hard to imagine a cloud of those flechettes doing bad stuff inside - the Golden BB effect multiplied and pushed up to Mach 4 or so. And it would be a lot harder to miss.
 
While not as fast isn't there a CRV-7 rocket with a payload similar to the multi-effect one described in that article?
 
I am in process of re recreating the SPIKE, wanted to share some of the results of my research. Still waiting to hear back on my FOIA requests here’s what’s publicly available
 

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I’ve spoken with one engineer who worked on this project as well as surviving family members of engineers who worked on this project. Our launch platform is finished and rocket development starts 2024. I’ll update as we get closer but if I’m missing anything here, feel free to post
 

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Makes me think if you could use it as a booster you could use it for other purposes.
 
Makes me think if you could use it as a booster you could use it for other purposes.
That’s how ADKEM was started , they test fired a version with 4 spike motors. It was later replaced with UNICORN and CKEM/ Losat were developed
 

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I found an interesting patent for a hypervelocity rocket that uses standard smokeless powder grains as rocket fuel with a reentry nozzle that prevents the grains from blowing out. The trade off of simple propellant is extremely high pressure. The patent claims to have tested the concept several times and functions although, due to the heavy weight , it may underperformed. However the combination of titanium and composite materials may make the concept feasible. The company Sparta Inc, worked on this as well as the “SPIKE” so they have a good track record. If anyone has anymore information on this, I’d love to hear about it
Patent link

I made a 3d model based on the patent to show it better
 
The trade off of simple propellant is extremely high pressure. The patent claims to have tested the concept several times and functions although, due to the heavy weight , it may underperformed. However the combination of titanium and composite materials may make the concept feasible.
Do wonder how is lost using simple materials...

Cause while it may not be good good enough for straight kinetic energy without using tge fun materials like titaninum.

It might be good enough for HEAT slinging as an war emergency motor.

Imagine it have to be fairly close in performance to a regular rocket motor of its size to be worth it outside of shear Desperation Situations through.
 
That’s how ADKEM was started , they test fired a version with 4 spike motors. It was later replaced with UNICORN and CKEM/ Losat were developed
ADKEM came after LOSAT. Says so right in the picture. Not sure how ADKEM/CKEM relate time wise.
 
ADKEM came after LOSAT. Says so right in the picture. Not sure how ADKEM/CKEM relate time wise.

The picture calls also vertical launch "virtual launch", so it's not exactly accurate, clearly.

"Virtual launch" was just a MICOMism for an orienting vertical launch, so it would include things like Swingfire and whatever the Russian anti-ship missile is that has the nose motors, because it's a mostly meaningless buzzword. The actual reason they used "virtual" instead of "vertical" is because "virtual" was the "block chain", "cyber", or "AI" of the 1990's, because such artificial buzzwords have always been necessary to secure funding.

Anyway, AdKEM and LOSAT were simultaneous, one was an advanced technology program run by DA and MICOM, and the other was a contract for a weapon system, and both show up around 1988-ish. AdKEM may be a couple years off from this, like 1989 or 1990. AdKEM ended around '98 or so (I think they kept running into issues with the guidance system?), while LOSAT ended in '03 formally, with residuals carrying the program into '04, and CKEM comes after LOSAT.

If LOSAT was considered too big for weaponization then AdKEM definitely wouldn't have made it.

It's most accurate to think of AdKEM as a laundry list of "nice to haves" for a hypothetical Follow-On-To-LOSAT than anything else. Mainly being the ability to fire from defilade, 360 degree target acquisition with a mmW radar, and elimination of the requirement for beamriding guidance. Turns out EFOGM did all that and better.
 
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