FOG BLOG U.S. NEWS LOG: BIDEN TOURS ALABAMA PLANT , NOD TO SENDING MORE JAVELIN MISSILES TO UKRAINE!
Javelin Anti-Tank Missiles Get Biden Nod as Ukraine Depletes U.S. Stash
U.S. weapons stockpiles getting drawn down as war continues
Zelenskiy expected to keep pushing for more Javelins, Stingers President Joe Biden stressed the importance of U.S. and allied weapons for Ukraine’s defense Tuesday with a visit to a Lockheed Martin Corp. plant making Javelin anti-tank missiles, which American and NATO officials say have mauled Russia’s invading armored columns.
Biden urged Congress to authorize an additional $33 billion in aid for Ukraine -- with lawmakers warning that stockpiles of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps’ premier anti-tank weapon are becoming depleted due to the war. “We need more money to make sure the United States can continue to send weapons directly to the frontlines of freedom in Ukraine,” Biden said during a visit to the Troy, Alabama, factory. Biden praised the anti-tank systems as “some of the best, most effective weapons in our arsenal.”
“You’re making a gigantic difference for these poor sons of guns under such enormous crushing firepower,” Biden said.
The self-guided portable missile system -- which weighs just 49 pounds (22 kilograms) -- has proved invaluable to Ukrainian fighters, who can fire on Russian vehicles from as far as 4,000 meters (2.5 miles) away and then quickly flee. The U.S. has already delivered about 5,000 of the 5,500 Javelins the White House has committed to provide to Ukraine, a senior defense official told reporters Monday. “They’ve been so important there’s even a story about Ukrainian parents naming their children -- not a joke -- their newborn children Javelin or Javelina,” Biden said.
U.S. and NATO officials have cited Javelins and other anti-armor systems as key to staving off a quick Russian victory in the early days of the war, buying time for President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s government. Ukraine’s unexpected battlefield success defending its capital, Kyiv, forced Moscow to divert forces to the east and south and narrow its war aims.
The Lockheed factory in Alabama is one of three in the U.S. that produce Javelins, and 265 of the plant’s 600 employees support production of the anti-tank system. The facility can currently produce about 2,100 Javelins per year, the White House said.
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