Javelin is a British man-portable

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...

, formerly used by the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

and

Canadian Army The Canadian Army (french: Armée canadienne) is the command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also respo ...

. It can be fired from the shoulder, or from a dedicated launcher named the Lightweight Multiple Launcher (LML), that carries three rounds, and can be vehicle mounted. The missile is an updated version of the earlier Blowpipe of the 1970s. Blowpipe used a manual guidance system which proved hard to use effectively in combat during the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...

where only two destroyed aircraft could be definitively attributed to the system. Javelin replaced the manual guidance system with a

semi-automatic command to line of sight Semi-automatic command to line of sight (SACLOS) is a method of missile command guidance. In SACLOS, the operator has to continually point a sighting device at the target while the missile is in flight. Electronics in the sighting device and/or th ...

(SACLOS) system that only required the operator to keep their gunsight pointed at the target. A tracking system in the launcher's optics compared the location of the missile to the line-of-sight and sent it commands over a radio link to guide it. This version entered service in 1984, and was later known as Javelin GL. Further upgrades to the missile added a fully automatic guidance system to produce the Javelin S-15. This was sold commercially, and is better known, as the Starburst surface-to-air missile. These began to replace the GL in British Army service in 1993, although the GL remained in use as a training system. Both were replaced by

Starstreak Starstreak is a British short-range surface to air missile that can be used as a man-portable air-defence system (MANPADS) or in heavier systems, manufactured by Thales Air Defence (formerly Shorts Missile Systems), in Belfast, Northern Ireland. ...

starting around 1997. Javelin GL was hastily purchased by the Canadian Forces to replace the Blowpipes that failed last-minute tests during preparations for the deployment to the Persian Gulf for the

First Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

(1990–1991). It was later replaced by the Javelin S15 until retired without replacement in 2005.

History

The missile was developed as a replacement for the Blowpipe MANPADS, which was used in the

by both sides, and proved largely ineffective. Only two hits were recorded out of more than 100 launches: a British Harrier GR3 (''XZ972'') attacked by Argentine Army special forces (Commandos Company), and an Argentine

Aermacchi MB-339 The Aermacchi MB-339 is a military jet trainer and light attack aircraft designed and manufactured by Italian aviation company Aermacchi. The MB-339 was developed during the 1970s in response to an Italian Air Force requirement that sought a re ...

(0766 (4-A-114)) during the

Battle of Goose Green The Battle of Goose Green was fought in May 28–29, 1982, by British and Argentine forces during the Falklands War. Located on East Falkland's central isthmus, the settlement of Goose Green was the site of an airfield. Argentine forces ...

Operational use

Similar in overall appearance to the

manual command to line of sight Manual command to line of sight (MCLOS) is a method for guiding guided missiles. With an MCLOS missile, the operator must track the missile and the target simultaneously and guide the missile to the target. Typically the missile is steered with a ...

(MCLOS), radio frequency guided Blowpipe, Javelin is slightly smaller, uses

(SACLOS) radio frequency guidance and is fitted with an improved warhead. The operator is equipped with a 6× magnification sight and a long range

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

(TV) camera to locate targets. Although the Javelin's accuracy is somewhat susceptible to

smoke Smoke is a suspension of airborne particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass. It is commonly an unwanted by-product ...

fog Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus, and is heavily influ ...

, or

cloud In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may co ...

s, it cannot be decoyed away from a target with flares because it does not use an

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

ultraviolet Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength from 10 nanometer, nm (with a corresponding frequency around 30 Hertz, PHz) to 400 nm (750 Hertz, THz), shorter than that of visible light, but longer than ...

(UV) spectrum seeker. It is potentially susceptible to infrared jammers such as

AN/ALQ-144 The AN/ALQ-144, AN/ALQ-147, and AN/ALQ-157 are US infra-red guided missile countermeasure devices (IRCM). They were developed by Sanders Associates in the 1970s to counter the threat of infra-red guided surface to air missiles like the 9K32 Strel ...

Operators

Current operators

;: :* In 1991 the

Botswana Defence Force The Botswana Defence Force (BDF, tn, Sesole Sa Botswana) is the military of Botswana. The main component of the BDF is the Botswana Ground Force; there is also an air wing and a riverine patrol contingent attached to the ground forces, with 10 ...

procured 25 missiles with five launchers ;: *

Malaysian Armed Forces The Malaysian Armed Forces (: MAF; ms, Angkatan Tentera Malaysia; Jawi: ), are the armed forces of Malaysia, consists of three branches; the Malaysian Army, Royal Malaysian Navy and the Royal Malaysian Air Force. The number of MAF active pers ...

;: *

Peruvian Army The Peruvian Army ( es, Ejército del Perú, abbreviated EP) is the branch of the Peruvian Armed Forces tasked with safeguarding the independence, sovereignty and integrity of national territory on land through military force. Additional missi ...

;: *

Republic of Korea Army The Republic of Korea Army (ROKA; ko, 대한민국 육군; Hanja: 大韓民國陸軍; RR: ''Daehanminguk Yuk-gun''), also known as the ROK Army or South Korean Army, is the army of South Korea, responsible for ground-based warfare. It is the l ...

Former operators

; : :*

Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...

References