Israel first sold missiles to U.K. from its emergency stock in 2007, even repainting APCs to which missiles were still mounted.
Israel provided the British army with Tamuz missiles from its emergency stock, starting in 2007, to assist the British in fighting Al-Qaida and Taliban squads in Iraq and Afghanistan. Following their satisfactory deployment, the British ordered more from Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.
The tamuz missiles, from Rafael's "Spike" family of missiles, were used after the British found they had no available solution to quickly strike small, mobile enemy targets in the two war zones. According to military journal Jane’s Defence Weekly, the British army purchased the missiles to deal with Taliban cells laying explosive charges and mortars that were threatening British patrols in the Basra area of Iraq and Helmand Province in Afghanistan.
The Tamuz was developed by Israel in the mid-1970s, initially as a result of lessons drawn from the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Their aim was to hit large armored columns from the Egyptian and Syrian armies. Over the years, it became a weapon that could be used to hit terrorist targets from afar.
The first Tamuz missiles purchased by the British were taken from IDF emergency stocks, out of Israel’s desire to help an ally, while still mounted on 14 IDF armored personnel carriers that were then repainted. British satisfaction with the missile, which U.K. authorities dubbed the Exactor, led to an additional order and the opening of a new Rafael missile production line. Even since the British withdrew from Afghanistan last year, the Tamuz has continued to constitute part of the British army’s sophisticated artillery, used in conjunction with Elbit Systems’ Hermes 450 drone (called Watchkeeper 450 in the British army).
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http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.677691Good. They are highly effective, to say the least. It's nice to see the brass overcoming the "not from here" thing when it comes to weapons and tactics. It's a trap all senior militaries fall into - to their detriment.
