Javelin

The NATO-standard man-portable fire-and-forget top-attack anti-tank guided missile — a Raytheon–Lockheed Martin joint venture, the symbolic anti-armor weapon of the war in Ukraine, and the infantry ATGM fielded by more than 20 operators worldwide.

Overview

The FGM-148 Javelin is a man-portable, fire-and-forget, top-attack anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) developed and produced by a joint venture between Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. It entered U.S. Army service in 1996 and is planned to remain operational through approximately 2050, according to CSIS Missile Threat. The system consists of a reusable Command Launch Unit (CLU) and a sealed disposable missile-round. Its imaging-infrared seeker locks onto the target before launch, allowing the operator to fire and immediately relocate — a decisive tactical advantage over wire-guided or laser-beam-riding ATGMs that require the gunner to remain exposed throughout the missile's flight. Javelin is the primary infantry anti-armor system of the United States and has been exported to more than 20 allied nations, including Australia, Estonia, Poland, Taiwan, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.

Development

The Javelin program began in the late 1980s as a replacement for the aging M47 Dragon, a wire-guided ATGM that required the operator to stay on target through the missile's entire flight. The U.S. Army awarded a competitive development contract, and the Raytheon–Lockheed Martin team was selected in 1989, with initial operational capability declared in 1996, per Wikipedia. The development challenge was to package an imaging-infrared seeker, a tandem warhead, and a soft-launch propulsion system into a man-portable 22-kilogram package — a demanding set of requirements that drove the program's timeline and cost. Early production focused on the baseline missile; subsequent upgrades introduced improved seeker sensitivity, a multi-purpose warhead variant, and the lightweight CLU. The system has been continuously modernized, with the latest G-model missile fielded in the early 2020s and a further Light Forces ATGW (LF-ATGW) variant under development, as detailed by Defense Advancement.

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