VILNIUS, the Republic of Lithuania (BulgarianMilitary.com) – The Ministry of National Defence of the Republic of Lithuania revealed at the beginning of last week (19th February 2019) that additional missiles for the Javelin anti-tank defence systems have been delivered to Lithuania, learned BulgarianMilitary.com.

The missiles were procured by the Defence Materiel Agency under the Ministry of National Defence at the amount of over USD 20 million, of which USD 5 million is financial support of the USA. The additional systems are intended for strengthening of the defence capabilities of Lithuania and will go to units of the Lithuanian Land Force.

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The Lithuanian Minister of National Defence, Raimundas Karoblis, said, “The U.S. is Lithuania’s strategic partner and key ally for security in the Baltic region. The Javelin anti-tank system procured from the U.S. is a particularly significant increase of long-term combat capabilities of the Lithuanian Armed Forces and enhancement of the effectiveness of deterrence.”

The Republic of Lithuania provides active and continuous contribution with soldiers, equipment and finance for strengthening the security and stability of the countries within the Baltic region. It is the first country that acquired the Javelin system in 2001.

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The Javelin is a U.S. medium-range man-portable fire-and-forget anti-tank missile manufactured by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. This advanced weapon can destroy modern, explosive reactor armour (ERA)-fitted main battle tanks in daylight and at night at a distance of 75 m – 2.5 km. The “fire-and-forget” principle used by the system allows the user to seek cover immediately after launch, as opposed to wired-guided systems, where the user has to actively guide the weapon throughout the engagement. When the target is locked through the Javelin and a missile is fired, it guides itself all the way to the target through automatic infrared guidance. The Javelin’s HEAT warhead is capable of defeating modern tanks by attacking them from above where their armour is thinnest, i.e. the hatch, from an altitude of up to 150 metres. The weapon could also be used in urban combat from indoors.

As of January 2019, over 5,000 Javelin missiles have been fired in combat.

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Source: Ministry of National Defence of the Republic of Lithuania, Wikipedia