Estonia starts the delivery of Javelin anti-tank missile weapons to Ukraine.

According to information published by the Ministry of Defense of Estonia on February 18, 2022, Estonia has started the delivery of Javelin FGM-148 Javelin man-portable infrared anti-tank guided missile weapons to Ukraine.
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Estonia starts the delivery of Javelin's anti-tank missile systems to Ukraine. (Picture source Estonia MoD)

In January 2022, Army Recognition has reported that Estonia has received the approval from the United States to transfer Javelin's anti-tank missile weapons to Ukraine.

In April 2020, the United States has delivered 128 anti-tank Javelin missiles to Estonia as part of a larger contract with the Baltic NATO member and the U.S. Defense Department. In December, the Estonian Defense Ministry said the United States has allocated $175 million in military aid to the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania for 2020.

Citing the Lieutenant General Martin Herem, Commander of Estonian Defense Forces, This is a small step by Estonia in support of Ukraine, but it is a real and tangible contribution to defense against Russian aggression. "At the moment, these missiles are more useful for Estonia's security in defense of Ukraine rather than at a live-fire exercise on an Estonian training area.“, added general Martin Herem.

„Our Estonian friends have sent us highly needed and effective modern Javelin anti-tank missiles. I am really grateful to the people, Government and Ambassador of Estonia to Ukraine for the steadfast support in such difficult times,“ said Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Volodymyr Havrylov. „Donated equipment will be immediately handed over to our troops on the field.“

Javelin missile system has been used by the United States and many other countries since the mid-1990s and has been used successfully in Iraq in 2003 against armored vehicles and later in the fight against Afghan insurgents.

The Javelin FGM-148 is a portable anti-tank weapon, manufactured by the American companies Raytheon / Lockheed Martin under a Javelin joint venture. The Javelin missile has the capability to defeat a broad spectrum of close combat threats on the modern battlefield. Javelin’s optimized trajectory, automated guidance, and high penetration capability provide unparalleled performance against heavy and light armor, as well as “soft” and irregular targets. The missile has a firing range from 65m to 4 km and can penetrate armor equivalent to 600 to 800 mm RHA (Rolled Homogeneous Armor).

Using “fire-and-forget” technology, the weapon guides itself to the target without external commands, controls or target designation – allowing soldiers and platform assets to rapidly engage a second target, take cover or reposition. To further increase operator survivability, Javelin can employ a top-attack target engagement trajectory using a low signature, a minimum smoke motor that reduces engagement detectability by the enemy. An infrared seeker enables day/night all-weather operations that, together with sophisticated signal processing and tracking/guidance algorithms, provides high accuracy precision engagements as well as robust counter-measure resistance for the modern battlefield environment.

A U.S. Army paratrooper assigned to 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade fires an FGM-148 Javelin shoulder-fired anti-tank missile during a combined arms live-fire exercise at Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany. (Picture source U.S. DoD)