The US has supplied Ukraine with thousands of Javelin antitank weapon missiles with plans in motion to sell 600 units to the UK (Lockheed Martin)
CORRECTION 3/1/23 at 12:31 pm ET: This report initially misstated the value of the potential sale. It’s $125.2 million.
BELFAST — The US State Department has approved a possible $125.2 million FGM-148F Javelin medium range antitank missile sale to the United Kingdom.
Announced Tuesday, the new deal follows a request by London for 600 of the weapons and includes 12 “fly-to-buy” missiles, US technical assistance and logistical support, noted the State Department.
“The proposed sale will improve the United Kingdom’s capability to meet current and future threats,” it added. “The United Kingdom will use the enhanced capability to build its long-term defense capacity to meet its national defense requirements.”
Made jointly by Lockheed Martin and Raytheon for the US Army and US Marine Corp. the Javelin is designed to target and engage tanks and light armored vehicles up to a range of 2.5 kilometers, while also offering a day and night capability against fixed defenses. An integrated sight enables operators to acquire a target, lock on to it and use a “fire and forget” capability to quickly select a new target or move position, according to the British Army.
The slow pace of national antitank weapons and missile production has become an increasing concern for UK lawmakers. This week Tobias Ellwood, chair of the UK Defence Committee, revealed that the committee was “quite shocked to learn” during a recent visit to the Thales production facility in Belfast, Northern Ireland, that the manufacturer has not received a production contract to develop a more advanced version of the STARStreak Short Range Air Defence (SHORAD) high velocity missile, despite supplies of the older version of the weapon being sent to Ukraine.
“The government is yet to confirm that this is going to happen,” said Ellwood during a Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy hearing on Monday. “This is an example of us, emptying the cupboards and not replenishing them.”
Like in the US, stockpiles of UK antitank weapons have dropped significantly since the country sent them and other military aid support to Ukraine. The total number of antitank weapons supplied by London to Kyiv had reached 10,000 units by December 2022, according to figures from the UK MoD.
London has started to move forward with plans to replenish the stocks in recent months, with a $280 million contract signed for Saab’s Next generation Light Anti-tank Weapon (NLAW) system, ahead of new investment in British Army equipment expected to be prioritized in the forthcoming Integrated Review refresh. The refresh, set to be published later this month, will deliver a series of procurement changes based predominately on lessons learned from the war in Ukraine.
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