Vietnam has purchased Israeli Rafael’s SPYDER air defense systems, a surface-to-air missile system capable of launching the company’s Python-5 and Derby Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air-to-air missiles, Defense Industry Daily reported Monday. The missiles have a range of between 12 and 30 miles. This truck-mounted system combines radar and optical tracking to guide a combination of short to medium-range air to air missiles as a versatile system adapted for a wider range of threats.
India was the SPYDER’s first customer, and the new systems are replacing replace India’s Russian-made OSA-AKM/SA-8 Gecko and ZRK-BD Strela-10M/ SA-13 Gopher SAM systems, according to the Times of India.
A typical SPYDER squadron consists of 1 Mobile Command and Control Unit, plus 4 Mobile Firing Units with their own built-in power supplies and missile sets of 4-8 missiles. It is designed for use against a wide variety of aerial targets such as aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, cruise missiles and guided bombs.