Posted on 03/01/2022 5:27:15 AM PST by blam
Ukraine is a highly devout country – about 87% of its 41 million citizens practice Christianity. So it’s notable that, to many Ukrainians, Mary Magdalene now has a new moniker: St. Javelin.
St Javelin (left), Ukrainian Defense Ministry / AP (right) via Euronews
The viral meme (shown above) recasting the “Apostle of the apostles” is in reverence to a device that knows no religion: the FGM-148 Javelin portable fire-and-forget anti-tank missile. Since the start of Putin’s dastardly invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian freedom fighters have extensively utilized the American-made weapon system – co-produced by Lockheed Martin and Raytheon – to rain destruction down upon the Russian military’s armored vehicles. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry estimates that 102 tanks and 536 armored vehicles had been destroyed as of February 26th. The Javelin likely factored heavily into that rousing combat success.
“This weapon allows a single soldier to target and destroy even the most heavily armored main battle tank with an almost guaranteed kill rate, at great range and with minimal risk,” Army Capt. Vincent Delany wrote of the Javelin for West Point’s Modern War Institute.
So how does this ‘holy’ piece of military machinery work? Laypersons might be envisioning a bazooka-like operation, but anti-tank weapons have evolved considerably since that quintessential rocket launcher was deployed in World War II. With the Javelin, a soldier using the portable, reusable Command Launch Unit (CLU) looks through an infrared sight to locate a target up to an incredible 2.5 miles away. When the user spots a target, he operates a cursor to set a square around it, almost like cropping an image. This is then sent to the onboard guidance computer on the missile itself, which has a sophisticated algorithmic tracking system coupled with an infrared imaging device. When the missile locks on to the target, the operator can launch the self-guided weapon and quickly relocate or reload to fire another missile at a different target.
Stuart A Hill AMS
The Javelin originally debuted in 1996, bearing a couple remarkable innovations. For one, it offers a “soft launch.” David Qi Zhang of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute explained what that means in his Master of Engineering thesis on the Javelin.
“The first motor… produces enough thrust to launch the missile out of the tube and a safe distance away, but is completely burned before the nozzle left the tube, leaving no exhaust to hit the operator. The flight motor then ignites to propel the [missile] along its attack path,” he wrote.
A second innovation of the Javelin is that it strikes from above. The missile rises high into the air, up to 490 feet, then blasts down on its target from a steep angle, striking the top of an armored vehicle or tank, where the armor is typically weakest.
(Please go to the site to view a video)
Russian tanks are not helpless against the Javelin. Most are equipped with explosive reactive armor. When struck by a penetrating weapon like a missile, the armor detonates, blasting a metal plate outwards to damage the missile’s penetrator and prevent it from piercing the tank’s main armor. The Javelin overcomes this by having tandem warheads, one to deal with the reactive armor plate, and the second to impact the tank’s armor itself. Modern Russian tanks are also equipped with a radar system called Arena, which detects incoming missiles and automatically fires a wide burst of projectiles to destroy or redirect them. But here, again, the Javelin reigns supreme, Delany says.
“The Javelin can defeat Arena while in top-attack mode, due to the missile descending from too steep an angle for the system to engage properly,” he wrote.
Ukraine had been shipped roughly 77 launchers and 740 missiles before Putin invaded. Many, many more of each are now on the way courtesy of the U.S. and European allies. May the Ukrainians put them to good use. Slava Ukraini!
Keep up the fight, Ukes!!
We will fight the Russians until the last Ukrainian.
The Ukes will handle that themselves.
This missile was developed and continues to be managed by the Army at Redstone Arsenal Alabama. The same location that put men on the moon.
There has been much made of this 40 mile long Russian convoy that is approaching Kiev from the north and is said to be just a few miles outside the city. If the Ukrainians have Javelins, drones, some aircraft and know the terrain well, how is it that this massive convoy proceeds or positions itself without being attacked? Any insights or comments
638 hits out of 740 missiles (if all have been fired). Outstanding hit rate.
Anybody believes the media? We don’t believe them when it comes to covid, but we believe them when it comes to Ukraine?
The missle (not the launcher) costs about $180K each.
With everyone having a mobile phone, there’s a remarkable shortage of photos and video coming out of this war, don’t you think?
We want to believe them on Ukraine, we know better regarding Covid.
Ukraine at this time has no air to ground attack aircraft. Except maybe a few drones. It is reported just now that Bulgaria is sending a number of Sukhoi aircraft which can attack ground targets effectively. The convoy is a perfect target for these planes. Sadly they don’t have any A-10s. Then again a few javelins fired at the lead vehicles and rear vehicles would force the convoy to deploy off road, slowing them considerably.
Yes. Really makes you wonder. Thought the Ukrainians for some tactical intelligence reasons don’t want the sites and outcomes of battles to be revealed and the Russians certainly don’t want any documentation of their losses. However the dearth of cell phone video is a bit strange.
The article forgets to mention Trump sent these missiles while Barak sent blankets.
IEDs would as well. Hopefully that's in the Ukrainians' plans.
Trump supports freedom for the Ukrainians. That also seems to be overlooked.
Hard to believe that the Bulgarians, who traditionally are extremely close to the Russians in many ways would send aircraft that are meant to kill Russians. Sure the Turks were more than delighted to send drones and be well paid as well. The Turks really don’t like Russia and have a primordial fear that the Russians will one day retake Constantinople. Explains Turkey’s membership in NATO more than anything. Strange times.
This tells you the Russkies have full air superiority (contrary to propaganda), and the multiple, multiple reports & photos I’ve seen of that column is that not a single vehicle was pushed off road smoking.
“Trump supports freedom for the Ukrainians. That also seems to be overlooked.”
I expect Trump supports a Ukraine free from Russian and U.S. Department of State globalists. Thus Trump is an enemy of the globalist media.
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