Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Unveils Super Ice With a Heavier Warhead
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems unveiled Super Ice on November 11, adding a cruise missile with a 1,000 pound warhead to its Ice Breaker family. The Israeli company says the weapon supports launches from aircraft, ships and ground platforms.
The clearest numerical change is the warhead. Rafael's published specifications for Ice Breaker list a 250 pound payload; Super Ice carries four times that weight, about 454 kilograms. The company describes the new weapon as intended for strategic targets and longer operational ranges, while keeping the exact range undisclosed.
A Larger Warhead Within an Existing Family
Rafael's announcement, distributed as a company press release by Naval News, identifies the warhead as compatible with the MK83 bomb. It places Super Ice alongside Ice Breaker and Sea Breaker, broadening the manufacturer's choice of weapons for different targets.
Rafael's older Ice Breaker brochure lists the entire missile at under 400 kilograms and its range at 300 kilometres.
Chairman Yuval Steinitz identified air defence systems among the targets the new missile is intended to engage. The announcement presents a strike weapon, adding another role to a portfolio that also includes Rafael's SPYDER air defence system.
Navigation Uses Images and Low Flight
Rafael says Super Ice combines autonomous navigation with an electro optical guidance system that matches images. The company also lists flight at low altitude following the terrain and operation in different weather conditions.
The technological lineage is visible in the older Ice Breaker brochure. That document describes an imaging infrared seeker, automatic target recognition and navigation designed to function when satellite positioning is unavailable. The new announcement carries image matching and autonomous navigation into the heavier member of the family.
Aircraft, Ships and Ground Launchers
Rafael says the design can work with aerial, maritime and land based launch platforms, rather than depending on a single service's aircraft.
Gad Geva, head of the company's Air Systems Division, said Super Ice was developed for integration with a wide range of aerial platforms without major changes to the platforms themselves.
Shared Planning and Support Systems
The company says Super Ice is compatible with the family's launch equipment, mission planning infrastructure and logistics. It presents that common architecture as a way for existing customers to add a heavier weapon while retaining supporting systems they already use.
The announcement sits within a broader expansion of Israel's defence technology sector, but Rafael's specific proposal is to extend an established product family. Its release says customers would be able to select between Super Ice and Ice Breaker according to the target, while using shared planning and support arrangements.
