Posted on 03/01/2022 5:27:15 AM PST by blam
Ukraine is a highly devout country – about 87% of its 41 million citizens practice Christianity. So it’s notable that, to many Ukrainians, Mary Magdalene now has a new moniker: St. Javelin.
St Javelin (left), Ukrainian Defense Ministry / AP (right) via Euronews
The viral meme (shown above) recasting the “Apostle of the apostles” is in reverence to a device that knows no religion: the FGM-148 Javelin portable fire-and-forget anti-tank missile. Since the start of Putin’s dastardly invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian freedom fighters have extensively utilized the American-made weapon system – co-produced by Lockheed Martin and Raytheon – to rain destruction down upon the Russian military’s armored vehicles. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry estimates that 102 tanks and 536 armored vehicles had been destroyed as of February 26th. The Javelin likely factored heavily into that rousing combat success.
“This weapon allows a single soldier to target and destroy even the most heavily armored main battle tank with an almost guaranteed kill rate, at great range and with minimal risk,” Army Capt. Vincent Delany wrote of the Javelin for West Point’s Modern War Institute.
So how does this ‘holy’ piece of military machinery work? Laypersons might be envisioning a bazooka-like operation, but anti-tank weapons have evolved considerably since that quintessential rocket launcher was deployed in World War II. With the Javelin, a soldier using the portable, reusable Command Launch Unit (CLU) looks through an infrared sight to locate a target up to an incredible 2.5 miles away. When the user spots a target, he operates a cursor to set a square around it, almost like cropping an image. This is then sent to the onboard guidance computer on the missile itself, which has a sophisticated algorithmic tracking system coupled with an infrared imaging device. When the missile locks on to the target, the operator can launch the self-guided weapon and quickly relocate or reload to fire another missile at a different target.
Stuart A Hill AMS
The Javelin originally debuted in 1996, bearing a couple remarkable innovations. For one, it offers a “soft launch.” David Qi Zhang of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute explained what that means in his Master of Engineering thesis on the Javelin.
“The first motor… produces enough thrust to launch the missile out of the tube and a safe distance away, but is completely burned before the nozzle left the tube, leaving no exhaust to hit the operator. The flight motor then ignites to propel the [missile] along its attack path,” he wrote.
A second innovation of the Javelin is that it strikes from above. The missile rises high into the air, up to 490 feet, then blasts down on its target from a steep angle, striking the top of an armored vehicle or tank, where the armor is typically weakest.
(Please go to the site to view a video)
Russian tanks are not helpless against the Javelin. Most are equipped with explosive reactive armor. When struck by a penetrating weapon like a missile, the armor detonates, blasting a metal plate outwards to damage the missile’s penetrator and prevent it from piercing the tank’s main armor. The Javelin overcomes this by having tandem warheads, one to deal with the reactive armor plate, and the second to impact the tank’s armor itself. Modern Russian tanks are also equipped with a radar system called Arena, which detects incoming missiles and automatically fires a wide burst of projectiles to destroy or redirect them. But here, again, the Javelin reigns supreme, Delany says.
“The Javelin can defeat Arena while in top-attack mode, due to the missile descending from too steep an angle for the system to engage properly,” he wrote.
Ukraine had been shipped roughly 77 launchers and 740 missiles before Putin invaded. Many, many more of each are now on the way courtesy of the U.S. and European allies. May the Ukrainians put them to good use. Slava Ukraini!
—> The article forgets to mention Trump sent these missiles while Barak sent blankets.
… and the blankets probably had smallpox
What is this St. Javelin crap! That’s a blasphemous use of an icon of the Theotokos.
When evaluating the veracity of any information, you compare what you hear with what you already know. When it comes to the media, source is an indication of trustworthiness, but lies, half truths and implications can all be separated to glean facts from the worst or most disingenuous reporting. When it came to COVID, initially, the media said it was no big deal. In that way, they were right, at first. Later, the propagandists got to work.
In the Ukraine, there are, of course, all kinds of lies and distortions making their way into the reporting. But, fact is, if Russia were doing that great, it would be over. Unless the “trust the plan” stuff for Putin is going to result in some amazing judo move that proves the Ukrainians were hopelessly defeated all along there must be some truth to the notion they aren’t getting rolled — yet.
There are plenty of photos of destroyed Russian tanks.
Now youse can't leave. Let them approach. Wipe out rear-most vehicles. Block escape. Pick them off.
You funny. I bet it hurts to only have half a brain.
Exactly how I feel.
Wanting the Ukrainians not to be attacked by Russians does not equal wanting the Globalist elites to win.
When I say so, too many FReepers reply, "What about George Soros, Biden, Gates, etc."
That's not my position.
“ What am I missing here? Ukraine is corrupt as the day is long.”
And Putin is sending a 40 mile long convoy to fix corruption in Ukraine.
I say the old Russian SPG-9 73 mm ecoilliess gun is also taking down a lot of Russian armored vehicles, too.
Makes sense. May explain why that convoy has not advanced to its deployment point. Russians themselves must also know the terrain and know if they are ambushed at a certain point or location, they face a catastrophe. Still they cannot just sit on that road forever.
The reactive packs are on the side so if the Javelin hits from the top it won’t encounter those, I would think.
The Javelin has dual warheads specifically to defeat reactive armor.
Blasphemy for a noble cause is still blasphemy.
I wonder what kinds of kickbacks the Bidens got for those wonderful weapons?
Or, are you talking about soldiers taking pics? Yeah, cause every combat soldier likes to pause to take pictures when he's in the heat of combat.
/s
Ukraine was a Russian Kleptocracy, which in 2014, the CIA flipped to a US deep state kleptocracy. Parasites like Hunter Biden and Chris Kerry showed up immediately
But as a US deep state kleptocracy, they were also pushed to confront Russia, to be a strategic thorn in Russia's side. They were used as a tool, as cannon fodder, nothing more. How is it working out for the Ukrainian people?
The whole thing is extremely immoral, as well as stupid and dangerous for average Americans
Imagine the impact of just a dozen or more direct strikes on tanks/artillery.
Small groups in the field strike and flee.
As was the case for all wars during the Cold War, the purpose of US involvement is as a proving ground for US munitions as they are offered for sale to other nations.
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