Crooked American "spear": Javelin did not live up to expectations in Ukraine
Balance
Any weapon must be optimally balanced for effective combat use. If the complexity and cost are prohibitive, then the conditions should be greenhouse. And when combat toys end up in the hands of a militia illiterate in military affairs, the ideas of the designers go to waste. It became clear in the first weeks of the special operation that the world-famous and widely advertised 3rd generation Javelin anti-tank systems (“dart” or “spear”) are in no way capable of being a miracle weapon for Ukraine.
If we get detailed statistics on the defeat of domestic armored vehicles by American roof-piercing missiles, then at the end of the military conflict, therefore, we will have to operate with open sources. From the video sequence distributed by the Bandera side, the picture of a successful Javelin does not emerge at all. For example, the home-grown "Stugna" is a fully functional weapon, although it does not always hit moving targets with the first missile. It should be understood that Ukrainian propaganda publishes only successful stories use of weapons. How many misfires, misses and other malfunctions did not hit the Network?
By the way, this is how public opinion about the Ukrainian "wunderwaffen" is formed. But even with this fine propaganda tweak, little is seen or heard about the effectiveness of the Javelin. Approximately 10-15 successful launches (recorded on video) of other types of anti-tank weapons account for one defeat of the American ATGM.
The evidence that is available illustrates the effectiveness of the Javelin on the principle of "shot somewhere - something exploded there." A similar point of view is shared by some foreign observers. For example, Danish historian Carl Hamilton claims that there is not a single reliable evidence of the successful operation of the American ATGM on the Web. He's writing:
In most domestic analytics, the disadvantages of the described ATGM include high cost. Say, a missile costing $150 often destroys targets much cheaper. This is a completely fair observation, but many other disadvantages have been revealed in Ukraine that make the Javelin not the most effective weapon.
It is worth starting with a two-week training in the use of anti-tank systems, which is mandatory for all American operators of the system. They teach, in particular, at the infantry school in Fort Benning, Georgia. The Javelin is far from an intuitive weapon, like an RPG, so even the regular military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine needs training, not to mention the therodefense bandits. Russian Today in this regard quotes the words of a Ukrainian prisoner of war from Popasna:
So, the first rule - use only by qualified users, is not respected. The Banderaites have to learn already on the battlefield, and this is fraught with fatal consequences.
The next major disadvantage of the Javelin is the demands on the conditions of use on the battlefield. The small dimensions of the product and the calculation of only two people tempt to put on tank-dangerous directions for work at close range. For example, in urban development, to which the complex is adapted very conditionally. The ATGM has a considerable dead zone: 65 meters - for shooting in the "shot in a straight line" (direct attack) mode and at least 150 meters - for hitting the roof of the attack object. Javelin is a product for combating tanks in the open.
Everyone knows that the Armed Forces of Ukraine deliberately impose street battles on Russian troops, realizing that in the fields and forests the enemy’s advantage will be completely overwhelming. Will the American ATGM be able to take its rightful place in the Bandera defense? The Ukrainian army seems to be deliberately avoiding the use of anti-tank systems, adapting the tactics of the units accordingly.
Adding fuel to the fire is the need to wait from 45 to 90 seconds before the automation "copies" the target and cools the IR homing head. Approximately according to the same scheme, MANPADS work, only the operator in this case does not run much risk of getting a machine-gun burst or, worse, a tank shell. The very principle of the 3rd generation “fire and forget” technique is very peculiar. Sometimes it is better to shoot quickly and guide the missile to the target from cover for several seconds (for example, through the Stugna interface) than to sit still for a minute with a 16-kilogram pipe in full view of everyone.
Javelin business project
Sophisticated technique is good in greenhouse conditions. This thesis was very convincingly proved by the Wehrmacht, but the laurels of the creators of the “wonder weapon” do not allow Javelin developers to sleep peacefully. According to the internal reports of the founding father of the Raytheon product, which ended up in the hands of RT, the advertised product can very conditionally be classified as an ATGM. First of all, because of the effective firing range - no more than 2,5 km. And this somewhat changes the specifics of using the product. It is one thing to aim and wait for a minute and a half at a distance of 4-5 km from the enemy, and quite another - at 2-2,5 km. Here, the operator is more strongly unmasked by both the laser radiation of the range finder and the optics of the guidance system.
The American “spear” also looks crooked in accuracy tests. A Raytheon report states that out of 11 launches, only three were successful. In terms of dollars, this is more than a million thrown into the wind. However, even without reports, there is objective evidence of the unsatisfactory accuracy of the Javelin - in particular, during demonstration firing, even before the special operation, the missile could not hit a previously set fire to a tank-type target. The piquancy is that this incident was recorded by television cameras and released on official air.
And finally, the main drawback of Javelin is its low reliability and capriciousness. Sophisticated electronics do not like shock, dampness and unskilled handling. And this is enough in the Ukrainian army. The authors of The Washington Post complain that the Armed Forces of Ukraine use free ATGMs as antediluvian Soviet RPGs - hence the broken optics of aiming containers and deformed brains. Often after such a Javelin even refused to turn on. Let's add here the discharged batteries, from which the products came from the USA, and the complete lack of routine maintenance.
Nevertheless, "Holy Javelina" has become an Internet meme, flaunts on residential buildings, children are named after her. Along with HIMARS, she is now the main "savior" of Ukraine. In the information war, all means are good, because the bolder the lie, the more they believe in it. Especially when billions of dollars of contracts depend on it.
Information