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| A Javelin missile takes to the air |
Javelin anti-tank missiles, the weapons that might give Ukraine a fighting chance in a war with Russia, are made in Alabama. From a report at al.com:
Photographs of weapons being used in the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia put a spotlight on an Alabama manufacturer.
A tweet by Illia Ponomarenko, a defense reporter with the Kyiv Independent, showed a row of Javelin missiles, with the words stamped on the side:
Raytheon/Lockheed Martin
Javelin Joint Venture
Lockheed Martin
Troy, AL 36081
How effective are the Javelins? Ponomarekno provides a clue:
“I’m afraid we should expect to see hundreds of Russian tanks burning, ladies and gentlemen,” Ponomarenko tweeted.
What about the Alabama connection? Here are details:
The missiles are the product of Lockheed Martin’s Pike County Operations facility in Troy, where about 350 employees manufacture, assemble and test many of the missile programs supported by Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, including the Javelin. Troy handles assembly.
Billed as “the world’s premier shoulder-fired anti-armor system,” Javelin is a lock-on-before launch shoulder-fired missile with automatic self guidance, which allows a gunner to take cover and reposition immediately after firing, to avoid counterfire. It can also be fired from inside buildings and bunkers, and employed against armored vehicles and buildings, among other targets.
7 comments:
I say that within a year or two down here in Alabama these Javelin missiles will be legal to carry for personal protection. The Republicans who control the state seems to think the answer to increasing crime is to arm the citizens more. Put more guns on the street, yes that will work. No talk of police reforms, no talk of decriminalize drugs, not any talk at all of a better criminal justice system. Even while those gov't policies have overpopulated our prisons to the point that the federal gov't will soon have to take over in order to manage the mess, they still refuse to deal with the problem. Notice that while they have no problems with placing the police and the public in more danger with their constitutional carry laws, they do not dare permit any guns to come into their gov't offices. At their own campaign rallies while they are shouting that 2nd amendments rights means no control at all on who or where anyone can carry their guns, they DO NOT PERMIT GUNS inside that very rally. Not for a minute do they want to be around the unlicensed, unverified gun nuts that the police/public have to deal with daily but let me show up at their office with my AK47 to discuss this and they will have the swat team kill me on the spot. Let me post a "no guns inside" sign at my business and they will have the State Attorney General take legal action against me. So, mark my words while our crime problem grows here in the state many of them will see these Javelin missiles as the answers. After all, if our founding fathers had not wanted these Javelin missiles to be included under our 2nd amendment rights, they would have written it into the constitution, don't you think?
Mr. Pitts:
Thank you for a thoughtful comment, with a nice dose of dark humor. I wish there wasn't so much truth in your comment, but I'm afraid it's filled with truth, which is one reason it's such an effective comment. I hope lots of people take the time to read it and digest it.
Well done, Sir!
I can't say I would relish the sight of burning Russian tanks. But such images might turn the Russian populace against Putin and help restore peace to the region.
Here is a Jerusalem Post article, with an eye-opening headline:
The weapons that are turning the Russian hunters into prey - analysis
As the war in Ukraine continues, thousands of anti-tank missiles are on their way to the war-torn country from NATO member states and other countries to repel invading Russian military hardware and forces.
A total of 18 countries will be sending military support to Kyiv following a plea by Defense Minister Alexey Reznikov to send the besieged nation anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles.
“We need as much Stinger [anti-aircraft] and anti-tank weapons as possible,” said Reznikov, seated at a conference table with a Ukrainian flag behind him. “In order to provide for reliable procurement of equipment, you may deliver it to Poland. From there we will transport them across the land and quickly saturate our defense.”
On Saturday, countries around the world answered his call, including countries like Germany, which had a long-standing policy of not transferring weapons to conflict zones, or Switzerland, which has had a long-standing policy of neutrality.
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-699010
Here's more from the Jerusalem Post:
Ukraine’s military has been largely reliant on Soviet-era equipment, but has upgraded its military in recent years with Western weapons that have so far been able to slow the Russian advance.
Since Russia’s invasion last week, Ukrainian troops have destroyed dozens of columns of Russian vehicles with anti-armor Javelin missiles and simpler Next Generation Light anti-tank weapons (NLAW).
The Javelin and NLAW anti-tank weapons have become critical in a war that has seen fighting in both urban and rural areas. While they are not cheap (each single-shot NLAW unit is over $40,000), the mobile operators of the shoulder-launched missiles are able to fire and forget as they select their next target.
Weighing just 12.5 kg., the NLAW portable, shoulder-launched system has an effective range of 20-800 m., and can hit targets within seconds. It can be used in almost any position, from high up in rooms of a residential building, from behind a tree, or even from inside a ditch. The system is effective both during the day or at night, and its armor-piercing warhead can destroy a range of targets from tanks to trucks, cars and helicopters.
The Javelin is a lightweight, man-portable, shoulder-fired missile system that has been combat-proven to destroy armored threats. The fire-and-forget medium anti-tank system, with a range of between 65m and 4,000m, can be used as an urban assault weapon. The Javelin can destroy a wide range of targets in two different attack modes: a top attack, where the system strikes the weakest point of the target, or a direct attack for soft targets.
This probably is a key point about the Javelin missiles:
The system is also quite simple, with operators needing only 72 hours of training, making it a clear choice for the Ukrainians who do not have the luxury of time to learn new weapons systems.
Even prior to the Russian invasion, the UK had already delivered 2,000 NLAWs to the embattled county. Thousands of Javelins had also been delivered to Kyiv by the United States. The thousands of others on their way will boost and replenish stockpiles of weapons able to destroy Russian armor.
Though systems like the Bazooka Panzerfaust are also on their way to Ukraine, these shoulder-fired missiles have become so central in the war that a meme of “St. Javelin of Ukraine, Mary Magdalene holding a Javelin with the flag of Ukraine as her halo” has become an increasingly familiar sight on social media.
In another example of how the NLAW is seen as an invaluable tool in the war, one Ukrainian soldier told The Daily Telegraph: “How do you say in English, ‘God Save the Queen?’”
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With the Russian military relying heavily on their armored platforms to conquer Ukraine, these anti-tank missiles have become key to stopping Russian President Vladimir Putin.
From an informative article at foreignpolicy.com:
The Biden administration has used harsh language to underscore Russia’s isolation as it has massed more than 100,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders, signaling the potential of a renewed invasion of the former Soviet republic. The United States and NATO countries have also promised to lay down hard-hitting sanctions against Russia and boost military deployments to Eastern European nations.
Yet perhaps the biggest sign of the West’s efforts to defend Ukraine can be found on the runways of Boryspil International Airport in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, where Javelin anti-tank systems, shoulder-fired missiles designed to help Ukrainian troops destroy advancing Russian tanks, have been showing up from the United States, Britain, and Baltic countries over the past several weeks. Ukraine’s faith in the Javelin system is so strong that the country’s defense chief recently went as far as to say his confidence in the armed forces was as effective as the shoulder-fired rocket.
But what makes the Javelin so useful? It’s a fire-and-forget system, which means that defenders can basically point and shoot, blasting off rounds before seeking cover from advancing tanks, for instance, which Russia could send onto the battlefield to mop up after initial air and missile salvos that experts expect Moscow would launch in an effort to knock out Ukrainian air defenses.
The Javelin has had relatively little combat experience, but it tends to be effective and easy enough to use that soldiers will fire the rockets at almost anything. In Afghanistan, U.S. troops used the Javelin to fire at insurgents who hid in caves, a quicker response than calling in an airstrike.
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