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 Announcing
this, Indian Defence Minister A K Antony told
Parliament Aug 16 that India will be issuing the
procedural Letter of Request (LoR) to the US Government
for this missile under its Foreign Military Sales
(FMS) Programme along with Transfer of Technology
(ToT). "The Ministry of Defence proposes
to issue a Letter of Request to the US government
under its Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme
for procurement of (the) third generation anti-tank
guided missile along with transfer of technology,"
he stated in a written reply to a question.
Raytheon Asia President Admiral Walter Doran had
told India Strategic during the recent Farnborough
Air Show that Washington had already cleared this
sophisticated missile for sale to New Delhi if
India was interested. The missile was demonstrated
in a live firing practice, scoring Bull’s
Eye, during the Indo-US Yudh Abhyas exercise in
October 2009, held in central India’s Madhya
Pradesh state.
Javelin is actually a joint development product
of Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. With a range
of 2.5 km, according to a Raytheon official, it
is optimized for close combat assault and anti-armour
role. It is ready within 30 seconds, is reloaded
within 20 seconds, and can target low-flying helicopters
also as well as vehicles, bunkers and buildings
with precision.
A single infantry soldier, armed with this 22.5
kg weapon, can play an effective role in combat,
he said adding that Indian troops were able to
master the missile within 30 minutes during the
exercise. Raytheon describes as the world’s
most versatile, man-portable ATGM, capable of
precision engagement, thanks to its infra red,
fire-and-forget capability. The missiles have
a long shelf life of 10 years. The missile locks
on to a target before launch, and its automatic
self-guidance capability enables the soldier to
reload the weapon with another missile.
The system is being used both in Afghanistan and
Iraq by US Army, Marines and Special Forces.
 India
is developing an indigenous anti-tank Nag (Snake)
missile also. As the Indian Army does not have
adequate offensive systems like tanks and artillery,
the acquisition of Javelin would at least add
to its defensive capability.
But the Transfer of Technology to manufacture
it in India would be a bigger development than
the sale of the missile itself.
India and the US have been talking about the Javelin
since 2008, when Raytheon first disclosed its
intention to sell it to India.
Details about the number of missiles are not
known.
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