Welcome back to the military update channel.
From the time Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his “special military operation”
on Feb. 24, 2022, his target, Ukraine, proved to be anything but low-hanging fruit.
Ferocious though their resistance was, however, it would not have lasted as long
as it did — three months and still counting, as of May 2022 — had it not been for the vital
weaponry and ammunition provided to the Ukrainians by numerous foreign supporters
through what has amounted to a 21st-century form of World War II’s Lend-Lease program.
Among the most noticeable weapons credited with standing up to overwhelming waves of
Russian tanks has been a state-of-the-art, infantry-operated guided missile. The Americans
who produced it call it the FGM-148 AAWS-M (for “Advanced Antitank Weapon System-Medium”),
but many of its current users have come to call it “Saint Javelin, Protector of Ukraine.”
WHAT IS THE JAVELIN?
The FGM-148 entered service in 1996 as a replacement for the M47 Dragoon.
The latest model is the FGM-148F, and an upgraded FGM-148G is in the works.
Weighing 49 pounds, the Javelin has advanced electronics that have progressively improved to
afford the operator's fire-and-forget capability. Using the attached Command Launch Unit,
the operator aims and fires, the missile being spring-ejected before igniting
and traveling on toward the target at a rate of 1,000 feet every seven seconds,
guided by an infrared seeker in the nose.
Upon contact, the foremost of two tandem high-explosive antitank, or HEAT,
warheads explode against the reactive armor, clearing the way for the second warhead to reach
the tank’s main armor. The Javelin’s warheads can penetrate steel up to 23.5 inches to 31.5
inches thick. With an effective range of over 1.5 miles, the Javelin’s warhead travels 213
feet before its arms — but it does produce a backblast that the user must take into account.
Though its range falls below the 2.3-mile effective range of the BGM-71 tube-launched,
optically guided, wire-guided, or TOW missile,
the Javelin is much lighter and handier for operation by a single trained infantryman.
Like the TOW, however, it can be mounted on a vehicle if one is available.
HOW ACCURATE IS THE JAVELIN?
The United States has claimed that of the first 112 Javelins it used,
100 hit the targets, both directly and on trajectories from above,
where tank armor is thinner and more vulnerable to penetration.
The Command Launch Unit, which can magnify targets up to four times,
can be removed from the weapon system and used as a lightweight optical device and night sight.
WHO USES THE JAVELIN?
Javelins have been sold to military services all over the world, and U.S. Army, U.S. Marine,
and Australian forces have used them to good effect in Iraq and Afghanistan,
where their accuracy at greater ranges than other
weapons made them useful against enemy strongpoints as well as moving vehicles.
Although it has seen its share of combat since its introduction to service,
it has been in Ukraine that the Javelin has attained legendary status.
The country had already purchased 210 missiles and 37 launchers in March 2018, for $47 million,
followed by another order in June 2020 for $150 million more.
These came swiftly into play when Putin sent in the tanks,
making the Russian advance a costly one on all fronts. The Ukrainians have claimed more than
230 tanks and armored vehicles destroyed thus far, although it should be noted that
they have other antitank weapons that may have contributed to that statistic, as well.
Nor is the Javelin without its weaknesses, particularly its vulnerability to losing
the contrast necessary for a missile lock at dawn or dusk,
or if the target shoots off clouds of infrared-blocking smoke.
The principal complaint from Ukrainians about the Javelins, however, is that there never seem to be
enough of them. They have already received more than 5,500 missiles, and the United States and
other allies have pledged to send more, but they are expensive and time-consuming
to produce — 6,840 per year at $176,000 per system. In aiding the Ukrainians, the U.S. has
sent off as much as two-thirds of its existing arsenal, which cannot be immediately replaced.
Fortunately for the Ukrainians, they do have a supplement of other effective light
infantry anti-armor weapons and have become experienced in making every shot count.
For the time being, though, the Javelin has acquired so literarily iconic a place
in the Ukrainian arsenal that reports have come in of a local artist creating
a piece of mock traditional religious art depicting Mary Magdalene holding a Javelin.
Newborn Ukrainian babies have reportedly been christened “Javelin” or “Javelina.”
THE FUTURE OF THE JAVELIN
The Javelin has undergone quite a few upgrades since its initial
deployment in 1996—let’s take a look at three of the most important ones.
Given that the Javelin has been used primarily to hit soft targets and structures,
a new version of the Javelin warhead with a deadlier blast fragmentation has been introduced,
designated the FGM-148F. This new warhead is supposedly just as effective against tanks,
and no costlier than its predecessors.
The Army has also been funding the development of a Lightweight Command Launch Unit.
The new launch system would supposedly be 70% smaller, weigh almost half as much,
and feature upgrades including modernized electronics, a new laser pointer,
a high-definition color camera, and IR sensors with improved range and resolution.
Finally, a new extended range Javelin has been recently tested capable of hitting targets
up to 4.5 kilometers away. This is significant, as one of the chief
rationales for keeping the TOW missile as the standard vehicle-mounted anti-tank weapon was
its longer range of nearly 5 kilometers. A long-range Javelin would seem to be superior.
Vehicle-mounted Javelins are now in the works. Back in the 90s, the Army reportedly experimented
with a Javelin-toting ‘Warhammer’ Bradley but didn’t pursue the project. Recently, however,
the U.S. Army has announced it is looking to upgrade half of its standard Stryker wheeled
APCs to carry Javelins. (The other half would receive 30-millimeter autocannons). Previously,
only specialized M1134 Strykers equipped with TOW launchers had an anti-tank capability.
The move to equip middle-weight personal carriers with effective anti-tank missiles mirrors
Russia’s own moves to install deadly Kornet anti-tank missiles on the Epoch turret used in
its new families of Bumerang, Kurganets, and T-15 Armata (not the T-14) armored personnel carriers.
The Javelin would represent a more flexible weapon than the older TOWs, as the launch
vehicle can move immediately out of danger after firing the Javelin. If the upgrade is implemented,
even the United States’ lighter armored vehicles will be bristling with anti-tank firepower
and the ability to launch precision-guided missile attacks.
One interesting question is what will happen to the TOW
missile, which is considered a heavier asset assigned to specialized anti-tank platoons.
The newer TOW-2B Aero has a top-attack kinetic warhead with a wireless guidance system
so that the launch unit is no longer literally attached to the missile—and the operator doesn’t
have to remain immobile, though he or she will still need to guide the missile onto the target.
Though the TOW may have lost its advantage in range,
it is optically guided rather than infrared-guided and also costs less at around $59,000.
Thus, the U.S. military might keep both weapon systems so that no single system of jamming or
countermeasures would be effective, and to retain a less costly long-range missile for
fighting the kind of insurgent targets it continues to face in Afghanistan and Iraq.