Philippine Army shows interest in Javelin ATGMs

The Javelin is a medium-range, manportable, shoulder-fired, fire-and-forget, lock-on-before-launch ATGM system. The picture shows US Army soldiers firing Javelins during an exercise in Estonia. (Estonian Defence Forces)

The Philippine Army (PA) has expressed interest in acquiring the Javelin anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs).

According to a social media post by the PA, the service fired five Javelin ATGMs in Exercise ‘Balikatan' with the US Army and the US Marine Corps in Nueva Ecija province.

In the exercise, the troops demonstrated tactical skills, accuracy, and confidence in using the Javelins, the PA said.

“Javelins could be one of the integral armaments of the Philippine Army's future arsenal,” the service added.

According to Janes Weapons: Infantry, the Javelin is a medium-range, manportable, shoulder-fired, fire-and-forget, lock-on-before-launch (LOBL) ATGM system. The Javelin features three sighting systems – the day sight, the night-vision sight (NVS), and the missile seeker.

The Javelin is composed of two main components – the command launch unit (CLU) and a complete round of ammunition. A full round consists of the missile housed in the launch tube assembly (LTA) and the battery coolant unit (BCU).