Interesting Engineering
FGM-148 Javelin Missile breakdown: Why it's the ultimate anti-armor weapon
The FGM-148 Javelin is a game-changing weapon that gives infantry soldiers the power to take on heavily armored tanks and vehicles with incredible accuracy and effectiveness. This shoulder-fired missile system is one of the most feared and respected anti-tank systems in the world. The Javelin has the distinction of being a Any Known Armor (AKA) weapon. This means that it can defeat any known armor. This system, when loaded with a missile, weighs in at 50 pounds/22.7 kg (most of the weight comes from the missile). Despite this figure, it is still light enough for a single soldier to move around the battlefield, enabling guerrilla warfare tactics to be used against an invading army. The Javelin system consists of a reusable CLU and modular missile enclosed in a disposable launch tube assembly and can be fired from a crouch or seated position. This weapon is a fire-and-forget missile capable of guiding itself to the most vulnerable region of a tank from miles away. This feature allows soldiers to target, fire, and escape to safety. In order to achieve this, the javelin employs marvelous bits of technology. FGM-148 Javelin’s Engineering and Technology The weapon’s sight uses DRS Technologies’ second-generation thermal imaging technology, based on the standard advanced Dewar assembly (SADA IIIA). The gunner’s controls for the missile system are on the the Javelin’s Command Launch Unit—CLU which has a sophisticated infrared sensor with multiple viewing modes. The day sight is equipped with x 4 magnification and the night sight with x 4 and x 9 magnification optics. The thermal viewers on the Javelin needs to be cooled off to function well, which theoretically takes 30 seconds but might take a bit longer in cold weather. Infrared sight works both day and night allowing soldiers to spot enemy tanks from a distance even in low visibility situations. The fact the tube is detachable makes the CLU by itself an instrumental piece of equipment. With a carry weight of 14 lbs/6.4 kg, the CLU incorporates a passive target acquisition and fire control unit with integrated day sight and thermal imaging capabilities. Soldiers frequently carried these units on patrols in Afghanistan and Iraq when the threat from enemy armor was low simply because they provided excellent infrared sighting capability.>
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/fgm-148-javelin-missile-breakdown-why-it-s-the-ultimate-anti-armor-weapon/vi-AA1pHxhb?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=HCTS&cvid=f84ea01fdc7a4a00970d845776e668b1&ei=219
