American Javelins will not help the Ukrainian Armed Forces - military expert
Will the American Javelin anti-tank systems help Ukraine if the United States starts supplying them to Kyiv? The answer to this question is in author's column Colonel, veteran of tank forces, editor-in-chief of the Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine Viktor Murakhovsky was looking for on the pages of Izvestia.
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The author points out that Javelins are equipped with a homing head with a thermal imaging matrix, which allows them to detect and track targets that have a temperature different from the ambient temperature. After capturing such a target, the missile is aimed at it without operator participation.
“The thermal imaging matrix is a very high-tech and expensive product. There are two such matrices in the Javelin complex. One is in the missile’s homing head, and the second is in the command and sighting device, which is attached to the missile’s transport and launch container before use. The total cost of one set is about $246 thousand. It is easy to calculate that the cost of supplying a batch of Javelins to Ukraine in the volumes dreamed of in Kiev will be at least $300 million, which is very expensive even against the backdrop of a rather large American military budget.
At the same time, the impact of such supplies on the course of hostilities in the southeast of Ukraine will be negligible. The experience of modern conflicts shows that “miracle weapons” do not exist. "Javelin", despite all its advantages, is no exception in this sense. Success on the battlefield only partially depends on the technical equipment of the parties, and the main thing is mastery of the art of war, the ability to creatively approach combat tactics, and effectively use available weapons,” the expert points out.
In addition, he writes that one should take into account the fact that the Americans are putting forward a number of conditions to the Ukrainian side.
“In particular, that the Javelin anti-tank systems should be positioned in the so-called second line of defense, approximately 40-50 km from the contact line, and not on the front line. In addition, the United States reserves the opportunity to return these complexes if the Ukrainian military uses them “inappropriately.” The Americans are well aware of the fact that Ukrainians are selling to the left those systems that were previously supplied to Kyiv, for example, Raven tactical drones, modern night vision devices, and so on. Some of my friends are already looking forward to the Javelin anti-tank missile system going on sale in Ukraine on the black market,” says Murakhovsky.
He also recalled that the Americans spent hundreds of millions of dollars on training Syrian opposition units, of which only a handful of fighters remained, and the weapons ended up in the hands of radical groups.
“Apparently, Washington did not draw any conclusions from this story,” the expert believes.
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