Hezbollah reportedly “cloned” an Israeli missile that it would now use against the Jewish state

Here's why the military is careful never to leave cutting-edge equipment intact behind them. According to the New York Times which interviewed Israeli and Western defense officials, as well as weapons experts, Iran has managed in recent years to «cloner» an Israeli anti-tank missile, to mass produce it and supply it to Hezbollah, which is currently using it against Israel. The original system called Spike, comprising a launcher and several missiles, was reportedly abandoned during the previous Lebanese war in 2006.

Eighteen years later, this weapon turns against its designer. To reproduce the missile, Iran must have used reverse engineering, which involves dissecting a system to understand it and possibly reproduce it without initial knowledge of how it works and was designed. This process is as old as war, even for Iran, which has already reproduced American drones and missiles, recalls the New York Times.

A powerful weapon

Initially designed by the Israeli arms authority Rafael, the Spike, in the hands of Lebanese terrorists, became the Almas, which means “diamond” in Persian. Several of these missiles have been discovered by the Israeli army since it launched its military operation in Lebanon two months ago. They were part of a stockpile of much more primitive weapons, such as the Russian-designed Kornet anti-tank missiles.

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The Almas, ex-Spike, technologically surpasses many Hezbollah missiles. Equipped with a built-in thermal detector, it engages its targets with a ballistic trajectory, which allows it to hit tanks from above, where they are most vulnerable, and not from the side. The missile can carry two types of warheads: one explodes in two phases, which facilitates armor penetration, the other explodes in a fireball. There are at least three known variants of the Almas missiles, according to the Alma Research and Education Center, an Israeli research center cited by the New York Times. Which proves that Iran is capable of developing the weapon it “stole”. A fourth version would also be active.

If these cloned weapons were spotted during the recent Israeli military operation in Lebanon, Israeli intelligence services assure our colleagues that they have been used for much longer. Almas missiles were thus used during the civil war in Syria, which began in 2011. From now on, according to the same sources, Iran would directly manufacture these projectiles in Lebanon, to shorten the production chain. But the Iranian Republic would retain the production of certain missiles to equip its own army.