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Rafael and Lockheed begin qualifying an Israeli 1,000-pound munition for the F-35
The SPICE 1000 has flown from Israeli F-15s and F-16s since 2017. Putting it on the F-35I means several months of joint work with Lockheed Martin in the United States before any other operator can field it.
The Product Desk · Product desk
What happened
- Rafael Advanced Defense Systems said on September 15 that it has begun integrating its SPICE 1000 air-to-surface munition with the F-35, working with Lockheed Martin at facilities in the United States.
- The companies are working to qualify the munition for carriage and employment from the aircraft, in what Rafael describes as the first effort to qualify it for the fifth-generation fighter.
- Rafael said the initial integration will support Israeli F-35I aircraft, bringing the weapon to the Adir fleet, with wider availability planned for a later stage.
- The SPICE line is built for stand-off strikes of more than 75 miles, and the numbers in SPICE 2000, SPICE 1000 and SPICE 250 refer to approximate weapon weight in pounds.
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Why it matters
- constraint A non-American munition for the F-35 still comes on an American schedule: the qualification runs through Lockheed Martin's people and US facilities, so the airframe manufacturer sets the pace for anyone who wants the weapon.
- decision Procurement staff in other F-35 countries cannot build a stock plan around SPICE 1000 while the only committed sequence puts Israel first and everyone else at an unnamed later stage.
- capability Once employment is cleared, Israeli planners can send the F-35I against fixed and high-value targets at extended range without moving the task to a different airframe.
- precedent A joint Rafael-Lockheed sales channel already exists for SPICE 250 in the United States and Poland, so a European route to the heavier munition would likely run through the same teaming agreement rather than a direct Israeli sale.
Rafael says SPICE 1000 has been used extensively during long-range operations, and until now those missions have needed an F-15 or an F-16 [5]. The next several months of work in the United States are about adding one more aircraft type to that list [2][22].
Qualification is a narrow word with a specific scope. The two companies say they are working to qualify SPICE 1000 for carriage and employment from the aircraft [3]. Carriage covers flying with the store attached. Employment covers releasing it and guiding it. Rafael said SPICE is "equipped with an electro-optical seeker. The munition homes in on its target using advanced scene-matching algorithms and is optimized for the challenges of the modern battlefield." [16] Rafael has not said when Israeli operational use begins.
Who owns the process matters more to the other F-35 operators than the seeker does. An Israeli munition is going onto an American airframe, and the integration is being done by the American manufacturer at American facilities [2]. Rafael called the effort a "significant step" toward making the weapon available to other F-35 operators worldwide [12], and set the sequence out plainly: "At a later stage, F-35 operators worldwide will be able to field SPICE 1000," the company said [11].
The diversification here only goes so far: an operator gains a 1,000-pound class standoff munition from a supplier outside the United States [21], but the integration schedule belongs to Lockheed Martin [2]. Rafael's claim to a first is scoped to this munition on this airframe [3].
The Pentagon has an interest in the pace: a report published in April and cleared for public release in August said SPICE integration on F-35 aircraft "continues to progress with a strategy to accelerate the implementation via a SPICE Lite process" [9]. The report did not explain what that process involves [10], and four months separated publication from public clearance [19].
Israel is the near-term customer, and it ordered 25 more F-35s to take its planned fleet to 75, up from 50 before that order [7][18]. It was also the first country to use the type in combat, starting in 2018 [8]. SPICE 1000 entered Israeli service a year before that [20].
Rafael and Lockheed Martin were selling together before the F-35 work began. They signed a teaming agreement in 2019 to jointly develop, market and manufacture SPICE guidance kits for potential US sales [13]. Yuval Miller, executive vice president and general manager of Rafael's Air and C4ISR Division, said at the time: "Finalizing this exclusive agreement sets the scene for our two companies to provide unmatched mid-range guided air-to-surface weapon systems to enhance mission flexibility and success." [14] In 2021 they expanded it to jointly develop SPICE 250 "for sale in the United States and in Poland" [15].
A line like "available to operators worldwide" in a supplier release can be planned around only once you know which organisation controls the qualification schedule and whose configuration it lands in first. Here that is Lockheed Martin, and Israel [2][4].
What to watch
- Any explanation from the Pentagon or the F-35 program office of what the SPICE Lite process actually shortens.
- Which aircraft software configuration the SPICE 1000 carriage and employment clearance lands in.
- A third country naming SPICE 1000 in a budget request or letter of request, which would show the worldwide availability line has substance.