Rafael Advanced Defense Systems began work on the Sea Breaker in the late 2010s as a successor to its earlier
Gabriel and
Spike missile families. The project aimed to produce a fifth-generation, precision-guided weapon capable of striking maritime and land targets at stand-off ranges while operating in
GNSS-denied environments. The missile was formally unveiled on 30 June 2021. During development, Rafael incorporated an advanced IIR (Imaging
Infrared) seeker, ATR (Automatic Target Recognition) and AI–based guidance algorithms, as well as a two-way data link to allow in-flight retargeting and battle-damage assessment. The system was designed for launch from surface vessels and land-based launchers, with a stated range of up to 300 km and a 113 kg (250 lb) warhead. Building on the Sea Breaker programme, Rafael developed an air-launched variant under the name Ice Breaker. This version was designed to provide similar capabilities to
fixed-wing and
rotary-wing aircraft, maintaining a high degree of commonality with the naval and land variants. Ice Breaker was first shown publicly at the Farnborough International Airshow in July 2022. The missile retained the Sea Breaker’s IIR seeker,
GNSS-independent navigation,
electronic countermeasure resistance and mid-course data link, while being optimised for carriage under aircraft pylons. == Manufacturing ==