The Ministry of Defense of Estonia has announced its acquisition of the Blue Spear anti-ship missile system from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), marking an improvement in the country’s maritime defense posture. This move is rooted in the original contract signed in 2021.
With the capability to hit targets up to 290 kilometers away, this advanced missile system strengthens Estonia’s ability to protect its interests throughout the Baltic Sea, ensuring complete coverage of this strategic area. Given the Estonian Navy’s lack of surface combat vessels, the missile batteries will be land-based and are expected to be truck-transported, with the launchers themselves housed in 20-foot containers.
The weapon also has a secondary land-attack capability. Although the cruise missile may be somewhat limited in its ability against hardened targets due to the warhead being optimized for the anti-ship mission, it nonetheless represents the first long-range precision fire capability for the Estonian Defense Forces.
The Blue Spear is a new generation of missiles designed to replace the Harpoon missiles currently used by several navies worldwide. First unveiled at the Singapore Airshow in 2022 by a joint venture team involving Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and ST Engineering, the joint entity known as Proteus Advanced Systems markets the Blue Spear missile as a suitable surface-to-surface weapon for congested waterways, like those found in many regions of the Asia-Pacific area.