Russian troops destroyed a Javelin and NLAW anti-tank missile systems in Ukraine’s Zhitomir city on Saturday.
“In the past 24 hours, a strike was delivered with long-range precision weapons to destroy the ammo depot on the territory of a military unit in Zhitomir where Javelin and NLAW anti-tank missile systems were kept,” Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov was quoted as saying by TASS News Agency.
A report by journalist Jack Murphy citing a U.S. Special Operations official claimed that Ukraine destroyed at least 280 Russian armored vehicles. That is a 93% kill rate.
The Javelin, made jointly by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, follows a flight path that hits targets from the top, where the armor is relatively weaker. It can also be fired in a straight flight path mode, if needed. A single soldier can carry and operate the Javelin, though more hands would be needed to carry extra launch tubes.
The first shipment of Javelins arrived in Ukraine in 2018, the weapons systems along with a training and sustainment block called the Total Package Approach totaling somewhere around $75 million.
However, the numbers of tanks killed by Ukrainian soldiers, with the Javelin or other anti-tank weapons, are difficult to take seriously. Mostly appearing on social media, these numbers are likely to be exaggerated by the Ukrainians and downplayed by the Russians. The usual fog of war makes it even more difficult to ascertain accurate numbers, the report said.
