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!
It is curious and I have the same thought as you.
Fair enough.
A couple of A10’s would lay waste to that column!
Highway of Death Part II
I know there are Polish pilots just chomping at the bit. It’s got to kill them knowing they cannot get into the fight without dragging everyone else in with them.
Ya... It seems fighting leftist ideology is only acceptable in the states. Anywhere else in the world your a bastard for siding with the “enemy”. Someone here said it right... “How would you feel if Canada signed a military alliance with Russia or China?”
A quick paint job over the Polish insignia and slap on a Ukraine Flag and presto-chango you have the Ukrainian AF.
Problem is the Russians would probably figure it out. In fact I thoroughly expect to see Russian propaganda saying that a lot of the "Ukrainians" they are fighting are "Poles".
That’s irrelevant
Wolverines!
/s
So, none of the NATO countries have any predator or reaper drones that they could fly in and launch some hellfire missiles at that supply column? THeir not easily detectable and I think it would be hard to distinguish where those drones originated from since Turkey has got some in the battle zone, and it would be an in and out mission. It would be awfully tempting.
Trump took out Soleimani inside the Bagdhad Airport airspace with one.
“A couple of A10’s would lay waste to that column!” [painter, post 83]
No they wouldn’t.
A-10s cannot survive the modern air defense environment.
And if your are referring to the GAU-8 30mm gun, it’s the least effective weapon the A-10 carries.
“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.” [Sgt_Schultze, post 60]
Unsupported by facts.
Combat is the worst possible environment for testing a weapon system.
Data collection - the most essential element of system test & evaluation - is never sufficient. Conditions cannot be sufficiently controlled to enable the drawing of meaningful conclusions.
If nothing else, data collectors have to keep their heads down. They cannot observe properly.
Given the relative low number of Ukrainian casualties up to now, the Russians are clearly showing some restraint. That is not going to last.
Does that include Crimea and Dombas?
Probably the most practical and effective suggestion of the day. If nations or covert organizations really wanted to help Ukraine, they would deploy offensive stalthy drones with Ukrainian markings and “Ukrainian “ operators and deploy within Ukraine.
“The Ukrainians want no-fly zones.”
Enforcing a no-fly zone against a nuclear-armed near-peer nation is a recipe for disaster, maybe even Armageddon.
With the insane amount of corruption, plus human trafficking, plus the bio labs being destroyed, we still want to root for Russia to fail?
Should the media be believed when it comes to alleged fighting between the Russian and Ukrainian militaries?
I sure don’t believe our media and I sure as hell don’t believe anything our Government says.
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