(The staff article from the ABC NEWS AUSTRALIA on 10 March 2022.)
The stockpile includes at least 2,000 NLAW (Next
Generation Light Antitank Weapon) missiles from the United Kingdom, 100 NLAWs
from Luxembourg, and several hundred Javelin missiles from the United States
and Estonia. The NLAW and Javelin are some of the most advanced man-portable
anti-tank missiles available.
Both are relatively lightweight, shoulder-fired missiles which — although they won't completely turn the tide of the war — have so far proven valuable in what is otherwise a highly asymmetrical conflict. So how do the missiles work? And what makes them so helpful for Ukraine's defence?
Portable
anti-tank missiles are specifically designed to destroy main battle tanks,
which are more heavily armoured than other types of armoured vehicles (such as
armoured personnel carriers, for instance).
Main battle
tanks, which Russia has deployed in large numbers, use modern and highly
advanced armour technology, including "explosive reactive armour" (or
ERA). In other words, the tank's armour explodes outwards when impacted by a
warhead. This is intended to divert the blast and minimise the damage caused.
However, explosive reactive armour actually isn't
much of an advantage against the modern anti-tank missiles being used by
Ukrainian fighters. The NLAW and Javelin missiles are designed to hit a tank
from above in a "top attack" — striking at the top of the tank's
turret where the armour is thinnest. This will either completely destroy the
tank, or incapacitate the crew inside.
The missiles can also be used in "direct fire" mode against less well-armoured vehicles, such as armoured personnel carriers, buildings or even low-flying helicopters — with devastating results. This makes them a highly flexible and dangerous weapon for opposing forces.
Perhaps the
greatest advantage of anti-tank missiles is their range and ease of use. They
are relatively lightweight (between 10-25kg depending on the model), can be
used by a single soldier and require (relatively) minimal training to handle.
They are also extremely difficult to detect, due to their size and mobility.
Fire and forget:
These modern missiles are fully guided "fire-and-forget" weapons,
which means a soldier can immediately hide or relocate after firing. The
projectile locks-on to the target and guides itself once fired.
In the case of a
Javelin this is achieved using infrared technology, wherein the missile locks
onto any heat signature present in the tanks. NLAW missiles use
"predictive line of sight" technology. The guidance package
calculates both the distance to the target and the target's speed (if its
mobile), and guides itself to the predicted location. With this, a single
soldier can snipe a tank at range.
NLAWs have a range of up to 1km, while the Javelin
has a maximum effective range of up to 4.5km. Javelins are therefore much more
expensive than NLAWs, with a single missile costing about US$80,000 (or
A$110,000).
In the case of
both the NLAW and Javelin, the warhead detonates upon impact with a hard
object. A direct hit can be enough to wipe out a single tank if it impacts an
area with thinner armour, such as the
tanks turret — but it generally won't have much impact on tanks nearby.
Even a glancing blow from one of these weapons may well be enough to incapacitate a tank, if not fully destroy it. Thus, anti-tank missiles pose a significant and, crucially, difficult-to-detect threat to Russian armoured columns.
Russia does not
appear to be relying on man-portable anti-tank weaponry to the same extent as
Ukraine. At this stage it's drawing on a vast arsenal of tanks and aviation
assets, such as attack helicopters, for its anti-tank capability. This may be
due to Ukraine carefully husbanding and protecting its limited tank arsenal.
This could
change at short notice, however, as Russia does possess its own anti-tank
missiles. Reports indicate Russians have suffered heavy losses against
anti-tank weaponry, to the point where we've seen images and videos online
showing Russian soldiers putting up makeshift mesh screens and cages over their
tanks, in a (futile) effort to protect themselves.
These are colloquially termed "cope cages" by various communities on the internet. Of course, they will do little to minimise the impact from a missile, but they do demonstrate that Russian soldiers are fearful of the threat the missiles present.
Unverified reports indicate there have potentially been 280 armoured vehicles destroyed by Javelin's in Ukraine, out of 300 fired. If the reports are true, this is a remarkable strike rate. It appears these weapons have, in part, allowed the Ukraine army to bog down and stall the Russian advance, at a significant cost to Russia.
(Blogger’s Notes: I wish the US and EU should also provide NLAWs and Javelins free-of-charge to the people of Burma so that they could shoot down Myanmar Army’s Russian-made tanks and Russian- made helicopter gunships now horribly terrorizing the people of Burma.)
