The US State Department has approved the potential sale to Ukraine of 210 Javelin missiles and 37 Javelin Command Launch Units (includes 2 Javelin CLUs to be used as spares).

The total estimated cost is not to exceed $47 million.

According to a US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notification posted on 1 March, this proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by improving the security of Ukraine.  The Javelin system will help Ukraine build its long-term defense capacity to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity in order to meet its national defense requirements.  Ukraine will have no difficulty absorbing this system into its armed forces.

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The prime contractors will be Raytheon/Lockheed Martin Javelin Joint Venture of Orlando, Florida and Tucson, Arizona. However, these missiles are being provided from U.S. Army stocks and the CLUs will be obtained from on-hand Special Defense Acquisition Fund (SDAF)-purchased stocks. There are no known offset agreements proposed in conjunction with this potential sale.

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Implementation of this proposed sale will require U.S. Government and/or contractor representatives to travel to Ukraine temporarily in order to conduct training.

The Javelin is an American man-portable fire-and-forget anti-tank missile. It uses an automatic infrared guidance that allows the user to seek cover immediately after launch.