Weapons Get Smaller, Deadlier At China Lake

Project manager Steve Felix inspects a 5-pound Spike missile under development at the China Lake Naval Air Warfare Center. The missile will soon be test-fired from a remote-controlled helicopter at a moving pickup truck. Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

From L.A. Times:

Engineers at the Mojave Desert base are developing a miniature missile that can be launched from a robotic plane against terrorist targets.

Reporting from China Lake, Calif. -- A 5-pound missile the size of a loaf of French bread is being quietly tested in the Mojave Desert north of Los Angeles as the military searches for more deadly and far more precise robotic weapons for modern warfare.

In the next month or so, researchers at the Naval Air Warfare Center at China Lake expect to test a 2-foot-long Spike missile that is about a "quarter of the size of the next smallest on the planet," said Steve Felix, the missile project's manager.

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My Comment: Another vital weapon system for UAVs and unmanned weapon systems.