The Trump administration plans to sell more Javelin antitank missiles to Ukraine, U.S. officials said Wednesday, moving forward with a sale that Ukraine’s president sought in his July 25 call with President Trump.
The sale of 150 Javelin missiles and 10 launchers, for $39.2 million, was approved late last week by the State Department, according to people familiar with the details.
The sale hasn’t yet been formally announced, but Ukraine enjoys strong support on both sides of the aisle in Congress, where lawmakers are expected to approve the sale.
State Department officials wouldn’t respond to questions about the sale or its timing, saying they don’t comment on potential military sales. Democratic House members last week announced the start of an impeachment inquiry as a result of the July 25 call.
The shoulder-fired Javelin is considered the top U.S. antitank weapon and has long figured in discussions within the American military about how to strengthen Ukraine’s defenses against Russian attacks.
“These kind of weapons were looked at well before Russia invaded,” said Philip Breedlove, the retired Air Force general who led the U.S. European Command from 2013 to 2016.
After Russia seized Crimea and later sent troops into eastern Ukraine in 2014, Gen. Breedlove recommended that the U.S. sell Javelins to Ukraine. The Obama administration opted instead to provide nonlethal assistance, including medical equipment and radar gear to pinpoint enemy artillery and mortar fire.
The Trump administration moved forward with an initial sale of 210 Javelin missiles and 37 launchers in December 2017. Those weapons have been delivered and are kept in bunkers from which they could be quickly be dispensed to Ukrainian troop in a crisis.
The new Javelin sale, first reported Tuesday by Bloomberg, is separate from the $250 million in congressionally approved military assistance that was delayed until after Mr. Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
That assistance includes sniper rifles, radar systems to pinpoint the location of Russian artillery fire, grenade launchers, air-defense radar equipment and communications systems for Ukraine’s ships and naval infantry, according to people familiar with the details. Unlike that aid, the Javelins will be paid for by the Ukrainians.
The Ukrainians first asked to buy more Javelin missiles in early July. Mr. Zelensky highlighted the request in his July 25 call with Mr. Trump, saying, “We are ready to cooperate for the next steps, specifically we are almost ready to buy more Javelins,” according to a record of the call that the White House released last week.
At that point, Mr. Trump responded, “I would like you to do us a favor though,” criticized former special counsel Robert Mueller and said he wanted to have Attorney General William Barr contact Ukrainian officials to investigate matters related to interference in the 2016 campaign.
The FGM-148 Javelin missile system, produced by a joint venture between Raytheon Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. , can be carried and fired by a single person. When fired, it soars into the air and locks on to a target miles away, striking the top of a tank or armored personnel carrier, which is often the least armored part of the vehicle.
“The Javelin is the best in the world,” said Mark Hertling, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general and former head of Army forces in Europe.
When the Russians invaded Crimea in 2014 under the guise of a rebellion by separatist forces, Ukrainians scrambled for support, including asking the U.S. for extensive defensive support.
“We weren’t going to send them M1 Abrams tanks,” a former Pentagon official said. “The Javelin missile rapidly stood out as an easy-to-move system that could have an impact. It’s a lot of bang for your buck.”
The former official described Javelins as a weapon “that can tip the scales,” comparing them to the shoulder-fired Stinger missiles provided to mujahedeen fighters in Afghanistan to use against Soviet forces in the 1980s, eventually leading to a Soviet pullout from that country.
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