US Army set to fire Spike NLOS missiles from AH-64E Apache

[rangerrebew]

US Army set to fire Spike NLOS missiles from AH-64E Apache
Ashley Roque, Washington, DC - Jane's Missiles & Rockets
08 August 2019


The US Army will host a demonstration in August where it will fire Rafael Spike Non-Line-of-Sight missiles from a Boeing AH-64E Apache aircraft. A Version 6 helicopter is seen here conducting operational trials at Fort Hood. Source: US Army

In its quest to arm future aircraft, the US Army is hosting a demonstration to determine if it can fire Rafael Spike Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) missiles from US helicopters.

The service is slated to conduct experiments at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, later this month as a response to army validated operational needs statements and help identify "capabilities supporting the Future Vertical Lift [FVL] ecosystem", according to the FVL Cross Functional Team (CFT). As part of the upcoming demonstration, the army will use a Boeing AH-64E Apache aircraft to conduct the Spike NLOS demo.

https://www.janes.com/article/90370/us-army-set-to-fire-spike-nlos-missiles-from-ah-64e-apache

[PeteS in CA]

The point of and need for stand-off weapons systems is not mysterious, but do aircraft standing off have the target area situational/contextual awareness a CAS aircraft could have and as quickly by being around the target area? The pilot of an aircraft doing in-area CAS will probably see a hidden threat break cover before the aircraft standing off can learn of it, and by responding quickly could save lives.

I'm not suggesting either-or, but rather both-and.