Javelin JV Wins $1B From US Army | Ukraine Downed Russian Kinzhal | MND Receives Sky Sword II

Americas

Elbit America won a $10 million order deal with no options for the procurement of integrated avionics processors in support of the V-22 aircraft. Work will be performed in Haifa, Israel; and Fort Worth, Texas. Work is expected to be completed by December 2024. Annual working capital funds (Navy) in the full amount of $10,527,580 will be obligated at the time of award, and funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The V-22 is a military aircraft that can take off and land vertically like a helicopter, but fly forward like a fixed-wing plane. It’s primarily used by the United States Marine Corps and United States Air Force for troop and cargo transport, as well as search and rescue missions.

Raytheon/Lockheed Martin Javelin JV won a $1 billion deal or the Javelin Weapon System and associated support equipment. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of May 2, 2027. US Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity

Middle East & Africa

Israeli forces reportedly deployed explosive-laden drones during a counter-terrorism operation in the West Bank city of Nablus on Thursday morning. An Israeli security team comprising members of the Israel Defense Forces, the Israel Police, and the Shin Bet sent a combat drone inside a house where suspected Hamas gunmen were hiding, The Jerusalem Post said. Four people were killed in the operation, including two suspected Hamas members accused of killing an Israeli-British mother and her two daughters in Israel last month.

Europe

Ukraine said Saturday that it had for the first time downed a Russian hypersonic Kinzhal missile during a wave of Russian attacks in the night between last Wednesday and Thursday. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who unveiled the Kinzhal missile in 2018, has termed it “an ideal weapon” that is extremely difficult for missile defenses to intercept. “I congratulate the Ukrainian people on the historic event,” General Mykola Oleshchuk said on Telegram. “Yes, we shot down the ‘unparallelled’ Kinzhal” missile.

The United Kingdom has begun flight crew training on the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) MQ-9B Protector RG1 medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The first cohort of Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots, sensor operators (SOs), and mission intelligence co-ordinators (MICs) have begun training on the type at GA-ASI’s Flight Test and Training Center (FTTC) in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Asia-Pacific

The Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense (MND) has announced that it will receive indigenously-developed Sky Sword II mobile missile launchers beginning next week. The move is part of the country’s $771.6 million Sea and Air Combat Capability Enhancement Plan to build various missiles, launchers, and military facilities.

Today’s Video

WATCH: The Insane Engineering of the Javelin

Pilum High: The Javelin Anti-Armor Missile

The FGM-148 Javelin missile system aimed to solve 2 key problems experienced by American forces. One was a series of disastrous experiences in Vietnam, trying to use 66mm M72 LAW rockets against old Soviet tanks. A number of replacement options like the Mk 153 SMAW and the AT4/M136 spun out of that effort in the 1980s, but it wasn’t until electronics had miniaturized for several more cycles that it became possible to solve the next big problem: the need for soldiers to remain exposed to enemy fire while guiding anti-tank missiles to their targets.

Javelin solves both of those problems at once, offering a heavy fire-and-forget missile that will reliably destroy any enemy armored vehicle, and many fortifications as well. While armored threats are less pressing these days, the need to destroy fortified outposts and rooms in buildings remains. Indeed, one of the lessons from both sides of the 2006 war in Lebanon has been the infantry’s use of guided missiles as a form of precision artillery fire. Javelin isn’t an ideal candidate for that latter role, due to its high cost-per-unit; nevertheless, it has often been used this way. Its performance in Iraq has revealed a clear niche on both low and high intensity battlefields, and led to rising popularity with American and international clients.