US gave handheld weapons to Ukraine to fight Russian tanks amid war: Report

Even though Russia has intensified its aggression against Ukraine, the Kremlin's troops are still struggling to capture key Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, the capital of the war-torn nation which remains in the hands of Ukraine. For nearly four weeks to the Russia-Ukraine war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's forces have put up a vigorous fight against Russian troops supported by armoured vehicles, combat planes and warships. According to Business Insider, in a bid to support Ukraine, the United States has provided weapons in which three weapon systems stood out to shred Russian tanks and aircraft.  

Ukraine has obtained billions of dollars in armaments from the West, with the US providing $1 billion in security support just this week. As part of the new support package, seven million small weapons, as well as machine guns, have been distributed, as per media reports. 

Three US weapon systems that caused trouble to Russian troops

Further, the three US weapon systems, FGM-148 Javelins and FIM-92 Stingers, as well as the Next Generation Light Anti-Tank Weapon (NLAW) produced by Britain and Sweden have caused trouble to the Russian troops.  

According to a US official on Wednesday, Russia's battalion tactical groups (BTGs) contain 75% of tanks and armoured vehicles which have been deployed to the invasion. However, anti-tank defences such as the Javelin, a reusable, fire-and-forget guided missile, are susceptible to BTGs. 

Javelins are comprised of two components: a launch tube as well as a command launch unit with day and night controls and optical sights, Business Insider reported. A homing infrared guidance device on the nose of the Javelin missile allows the operator to launch the missile and then move to avoid return fire. 

When attacking a tank or other armoured vehicle, the Javelin would assault from a high angle, aiming for the vehicle's top, where the armour is thinnest.  When attacking a stationary target, such as a structure or bunker, the Javelin would take a more direct approach. Indicating the effectiveness of Javelins, a former Navy SEAL officer told Insider, “The Javelin is also very effective against human targets. You would not normally think (of]) an anti-tank weapon system worth hundreds of thousands of dollars as an anti-personnel option.” 

Apart from it, Ukrainian troops have been employing the NLAW anti-tank weapon. The NLAW is incredibly easy to handle and devastating, with a 150 mm high explosive anti-tank warhead. The NLAW, like the Javelin, may attack targets from above, although its effective range is only around 800 metres, compared to the Javelin's 2,000 metres.  

To keep Russian troops, bombers, and choppers from flying too freely over Ukraine, Ukrainians have been dependent on man-portable air-defense devices like the Stinger missile, as per Business Insider. In January, the US permitted other nations to transfer their Stingers to Ukraine, however, it was unable to deploy its own until it found out how to remove the sensitive material from them. It is worth noting that national guards can utilise it to take down multimillion-dollar planes because it is light and easy to use. 

The US revealed another package of security aid to Ukraine on Wednesday, this time including 800 Stingers and 2,000 Javelins, increasing the total number of Stingers and Javelins delivered by the US to 1,400 and 4,600 respectively. 1,000 light anti-armor guns and 6,000 AT-4 unguided, man-portable anti-armor missiles are also included in the package. 

(Image: AP)