FGM-148 Javelin

Also known as TI AAWS-M, Javelin Medium Antiarmor Weapon System, AAWS-M

American man-portable fire-and-forget anti-tank missile

Key facts

Type: Anti-tank missile , Surface-to-surface missile , Surface-to-air missile
Place of origin: United States
In service: 1996–present
Used by: See Operators
Wars: War in Afghanistan Iraq War Syrian Civil War Second Libyan Civil War Russo-Ukrainian War
Designer: Texas Instruments & Martin Marietta , now Raytheon Technologies & Lockheed Martin
Designed: June 1989
Manufacturer: Raytheon & Lockheed Martin
Unit cost: US$216,717 (G-model missile only, FY2021) , US$240,000 (missile only, export cost, FY2019) , US$249,700 (Lightweight CLU only, FY2021)
Produced: 1996–present
Number span no built: 50,000 missiles (12,000 CLUs)

Article

The FGM-148 Javelin, or Advanced Anti-Tank Weapon System-Medium (AAWS-M), is an American-made man-portable anti-tank system in service since 1996 and continuously upgraded. It replaced the M47 Dragon anti-tank missile in US service. Its fire-and-forget design features automatic infrared guidance, allowing the user to seek cover immediately after launch, in contrast to wire-guided systems like the system used by the Dragon, which require a user to guide the weapon throughout the engagement. The Javelin's high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead can defeat modern tanks by top-down attack, hitting them from above, where their armor is thinnest, and is useful against fortifications in a direct attack flight. The Javelin uses a tandem charge warhead to circumvent an enemy tank's explosive reactive armor (ERA), which would normally render HEAT warheads ineffective.

As of 2019, according to claims by the manufacturer, the Javelin had been used in around five thousand successful engagements. By August 2021, fifty thousand missiles had been delivered to customers.