"Javelin" missile production capacity nearly doubled in 2 years! Taiwan has ordered more than 2,000 missiles in total to strengthen its anti-armor capabilities.

PLA military officers and soldiers operate Javelin anti-armor missiles. (File photo, provided by Military News Agency)

[Reporter Tu Jumin/Reporting from Taipei] The United States is accelerating the expansion of the production capacity of "Javelin" anti-armor missiles. According to the foreign military news website, Lockheed. The "Javelin Joint Enterprise" formed by Martin and Raytheon has nearly doubled its annual production capacity of complete missiles in the past two years, and will complete all key test stations for increased production before the end of this year to meet the needs of the US military and overseas customers; my country, as a "senior user", has also ordered more than 2,000 missiles.

The foreign military news website "Defense Blog" reported that the Javelin Joint Enterprise did not announce the current exact annual output, but emphasized that it will expand production through investment in existing production lines, supply chains and long-delivery components; Raytheon spent another US$22 million to upgrade the Tucson, Arizona, factory to increase the output of the new "Lightweight Command and Launch Unit" (LWCLU). The new launcher is 30% smaller and 25% lighter than the old one, and its target detection and identification range is doubled.

Javelin missiles are closely related to my country's anti-armor combat capabilities. Based on public information, my country planned to purchase the first batch of 360 missiles and 40 launchers in 2001, with the US arms sales cap at US$51 million. In 2008, my country purchased an additional 182 missiles and 20 launchers, with an arms sales of US$47 million. In 2015, an additional 208 missiles were purchased, with an arms sales of US$57 million.

In 2019, under the name "New Javelin Missile System", the National Army allocated a multi-year budget of NT$3.427269 billion to purchase 42 systems and 400 missiles. The delivery has now been completed. According to statistics, the number of purchased missiles over the years has reached 1,150.

At the end of last year, Taiwan received approval from the United States to purchase 70 new LWCLUs and 1,050 FGM-148F Javelin missiles. This year, they were included in the special military procurement budget and are planned to be implemented from 2026 to 2032. The total cost is 9.926345 million yuan, and delivery is expected to begin in 2031. If these new cases are included, my country's planned purchase of Javelin missiles from the United States over the years has reached 2,200, enriching its inventory of anti-armor missiles.