Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

IAI debuts the Point Blank hand-launched guided missile

The Israel Aerospace Industries projectile will increase the precision strike lethality and survivability of small tactical teams.

IAI's POINT BLANK electro-optically guided missile can be carried in a soldier’s backpack. Credit: IAI.
IAI’s POINT BLANK electro-optically guided missile can be carried in a soldier’s backpack. Credit: IAI.

The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded Israel Aerospace Industries a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract to create and deliver a new hybrid electro-optically guided missile, the company announced on Thursday.

The IAI Point Blank electro-optically guided missile, which can be carried in a soldier’s backpack, has been unveiled. The system meets the operational objective of providing an independent and organic capability to units ranging in size from small tactical teams to battalions, increasing their precision strike lethality and survivability.

IAI will deliver the prototypes and training to the U.S. Department of Defense for evaluation during U.S. fiscal year 2023.

The Point Blank missile weighs only 15 pounds, is around three feet long, can fly at heights over 1,500 feet at a maximum speed of 178 mph, and can hover in the air.

The United States is “shutting down the financial infrastructure that allows the regime to continue its threats to U.S. national security and global shipping,” the U.S. treasury secretary said.
“The American people are crying out for an end to U.S. tax dollars subsidizing Israel’s military,” Rep. Greg Casar, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told colleagues.
A U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesman told JNS that the administration “acted well within its statutory and constitutional authority” in Khalil’s case, “as it does with any alien who advocates for violence, glorifies and supports terrorists, harasses Jews and damages property.”
“The Strait of Hormuz is open to all ship traffic except for Iran,” the U.S. president wrote.
The amendment “would restrict our country’s ability to confront Hamas, Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations in the region who are sworn enemies of both the United States and Israel,” the House minority leader said.
“We are prepared for any scenario,” the prime minister assured.