The Javelin: the anti-tank weapon feared by the Russians, adored by the Ukrainians

The viral meme (shown above) that recalls Mary Magdalene, the "Apostle of the Apostles" is in homage to a device that knows no religion: the portable anti-tank missile FGM-148 Javelin "Shoot and forget", shoot and forget. Since Putin's invasion of Ukraine began, Ukrainian freedom fighters have extensively used the US-made weapon system – co-produced by Lockheed Martin and Raytheon – to rain destruction on Russian army armored vehicles. . The Ukrainian Defense Ministry estimates that 102 tanks and 536 armored vehicles have been destroyed as of February 26. The javelin probably weighed heavily on that overwhelming success in combat.

"This weapon allows a single soldier to target and destroy even the most heavily armored main tank with an almost guaranteed kill rate, at great range and with minimal risk," wrote Army Captain Vincent Delany. of Javelin for the Modern War Institute of West Point.

So how does this military machine work? Lay people might imagine a bazooka-like operation, but anti-tank weapons have evolved considerably since the quintessential rocket launcher was deployed during World War II. With the Javelin, a soldier using the portable and reusable Command Launch Unit (CLU) looks through an infrared sight to locate a target up to a staggering 2.5 miles (nearly four kilometers). When the user locates a target, they operate a slider to set a square around it, almost like cropping an image. This is then sent to the on-board guidance computer on the missile itself, which has a sophisticated algorithmic tracking system coupled with an infrared imaging device. When the missile locks onto the target, the operator can launch the self-guided weapon and quickly relocate or reload to fire another missile at a different target.

The Javelin originally debuted in 1996, bringing a couple of notable innovations. For one, it offers a "soft launch". David Qi Zhang of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute explained what it means: “The first engine… produces enough thrust to launch the missile out of the tube and at a safe distance, but is completely exhausted before it leaves the tube, leaving no exhaust gas for hit the operator. The flight engine then fires to push the [missile] along its attack path, ”he wrote.

A second innovation of the Javelin is that it strikes from above. The missile soars into the air, up to 150 meters, then crashes into the target from a steep angle, hitting the top of an armored vehicle or tank, where armor is typically weakest.

Russian tanks are not defenseless against the Javelin. Most are equipped with explosive reactive armor. When hit by a penetrating weapon such as a missile, the armor explodes, detonating a metal plate outward to damage the missile's penetrator and prevent it from piercing the main armor of the tank. The Javelin overcomes this problem by having tandem warheads, one to deal with the reactive armor and the second to hit the armor of the tank itself.

Modern Russian tanks are also equipped with a radar system called the Arena, which detects incoming missiles and automatically fires a large barrage of bullets to destroy or redirect them. “The Javelin can defeat the Arena while in top attack mode, due to the missile coming down from too steep an angle for the system to engage properly,” he wrote. For this reason many Russian tanks have curious lattice superstructures that try to limit damage from above.

Ukraine had received about 77 launchers and 740 missiles before Putin's invasion. Many, many more of each are now on the way courtesy of US and European allies. This is the greatest threat, also because not all Russian armored vehicles are however equipped with sophisticated protection against Javelins. Many armored vehicles do not have them. Even if loved ones survive, continuing without infantry cover has proved extremely dangerous in the past.

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The article The Javelin: the anti-tank weapon feared by the Russians, adored by the Ukrainians comes from ScenariEconomici.it .

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This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/157746-2/ on Tue, 01 Mar 2022 12:30:53 +0000.