following a visit by president joe biden to its facility in alabana last week
lockheed martin corp announced that it has plans to nearly double production of the jatlin missile
this anti-tank weapon has aided ukraine in its fight against russia the defense contractor said
it will boost output to 4 000 units per year up from the 2100 that are currently produced yearly
the increase will take a couple of years however it will be crucial to replenish
supplies of the weapons as the united states has seen its stockpiles depleted
the fgm-148 javelin advanced anti-tank weapon system medium is considered to be among the
world's best shoulder-fired anti-tank weapons it is currently operated by a dozen nations
each missile weighs 11.8 kilogram while its command launch unit and round weigh
6.5 kilogram and 15.9 kilogram respectively
the man portable launcher fires a 127 millimeter round that is equipped with an 8.4 kilogram
tandem charge high explosive anti-tank warhead it is equipped with optical sight and thermal imaging
javelin is actually not the only anti-tank weapon employed by the ukrainian military
in fact the joint british swedish developed next generation light
anti-tank weapon or in-law also known as the mbt law or rb57 has been even more widely deployed
it is guided by predicted line of sight and can be used to carry out an overfly
top attack on an armored vehicle or a direct attack on structures and non-armored vehicles
the inlot is considered to be excellent at close range from 20 to 600 meters and is ideal in combat
actions in urban areas including cities and villages as its soft launch system means that
the missile is ejected non-explosively and can be used by infantry from within an enclosed space
weighing just 27.5 pounds it is easy to fire and light enough that the operator can still
carry an additional weapon such as a rifle in-law can be used in an attack from almost any position
from up high in a building to behind a tree or even in a ditch or trench
operators can fire down fortified degrees and can shoot from inside a building
from a basement or from the second floor of a building out of the range of most tanks
the javelin with an effective range of 1 to 2.5 kilometers or about 1.5 miles is ideal in an open
field it is also a fire and forget platform that utilizes automatic infrared guidance that
allows the user to take cover and avoid counter fire immediately after launch
as it is a passive weapon and produces little backlash tank crews are largely unable to detect
a javelin in the area until it's fired the in-law is also a smaller weapon which again
makes it ideal for the urban fighter but the most significant consideration could be the
platform's respected costs each jetland system costs around 178 000 while replacement missiles
cost an additional 78 000 while the unit cost of the in-law is around 40 thousand dollar
but the ability of a single operator to destroy an enemy tank with either platform priceless