Army Makes $1.8 Billion Effort to Rebuild Anti-Tank Weapon Stockpile
Ukraine Stinger MANPADS, M141 BDM (SMAW-D), the NLAW and the Javelin ATGM, seen with transit cases in the Ukraine.
Since 2021, the Pentagon., as authorized by the White House, has drawn down “more than $56.2 billion” in weapons and equipment from DoD stocks to provide security assistance to Ukraine.
While the list of that aid spans more than three pages, the amount of anti-armor/anti-bunker weapons supplied is staggering including:
- More than 10,000 FM-148 Javelin anti-armor systems;
- More than 120,000 other anti-armor systems and munitions;
- More than 9,000 BGM-71 Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles;
The “other” anti-armor systems mentioned above are a mix of man-portable, typically “disposable” single-shot munitions including 66mm M72 LAWS, and a trio of 84mm devices: M136 AT4s, Mk 153 SMAWs, and M141 Bunker Defeat Munitions (SMAW-Ds). That and a smattering of Combloc RPGs the U.S. had around for training and SOCOM use.
Developed in the 1960s to offer a more man-portable one-shot weapon instead of the 15-pound 90mm M20 “Super Bazooka,” the original 5.5-pound 66mm M72 LAW has seen continual service since then. The above images are from 1968 Vietnam, 1983 Grenada, and 2008 Iraq. The LAW endures, it would seem, and is still very much in use in Ukraine (Photos: National Archives)
That’s a lot of counter-armor/structure munitions but since the Ukrainians are fighting the mechanized Russian military it makes sense. Keep in mind the Germans made over 8 million Panzerfausts between 1943 and 1945 and still couldn’t stop it.
However, as only 50,000 Javelin missiles and just 12,000 reusable Command Launch Units have been made, and a lot of the disposables had been stockpiled back during the Cold War– ironically for just this purpose– the U.S. Army’s cupboard is looking a little bare right now.
This makes two DoD contract announcements this week very welcome news.
First is an announcement that the Javelin JV team picked up the largest single-year Javelin production contract to date, for $1.3 billion worth of missiles including more than 4,000 replacements for munitions sent to Ukraine already. The project “hopes” to ramp up production to 3,960 Javelin per year by late 2026.
Further, Saab just got a $500 million nod for the new XM919 “Individual Assault Munition” which is meant to replace the M72, AT4, and M141 with a single multi-use weapon.
Saab’s XM919 IAM submission is a modernized confined space AT4. Over 1 million AT4s have been produced since 1985, and the system is currently deployed by over 15 countries worldwide. (Photo: Saab)
Capable of functioning day or night and from within enclosures such as from inside buildings, bunkers, and in built-up urban environments, the requirements for the IAM is that it be a shoulder-fired, single-use munition that hits the scales at less than 20 pounds and tapes out at under 40 inches.
With an engagement envelope of between 30 and 200 meters, targets on the menu include light armor and earth and timber bunkers, as well as the ability – via a tandem warhead – to pierce double reinforced concrete, adobe, and triple brick walls with “lethality effects.” It also has to be able to operate inside a temperature swing of -40⁰F to +140⁰F.
Of course, delivery isn’t expected to wrap up on the M919– if it reaches IOC– until 2029, so there’s that.