India-US Defense Ties Deepen With Javelin Missile Sale

The United States has approved the sale of Javelin anti tank guided missiles to India. The package is valued at about 45.7 million US dollars and includes 100 missiles and twelve launch units. Alongside this, India will also receive 216 M982A1 Excalibur precision guided artillery shells worth 47.3 million dollars. Both deals are part of the Foreign Military Sales process and not direct commercial sales. The Javelin is a man portable fire and forget missile jointly developed by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. It uses an infrared seeker and a top attack profile to strike the weaker upper surfaces of tanks. The tandem warhead is designed to defeat reactive armor and penetrate composite armor. The system has a maximum range of about 4750 meters and an effective range of 2500 meters.  India’s need for these weapons comes from the deployment of large Chinese mechanized forces along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh. The missiles will strengthen India’s ability to counter modern tanks in high altitude terrain. Delivery timelines are expected to take between eighteen and thirty six months.