Dmitry Tymchuk, Head of the Center for Military and Political Research, Coordinator of the Information Resistance group, Member of Parliament (People’s Front)
09.04.2017 (September 4, 2017)
Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine

About the “Javelins”:

US Army soldiers training with anti-tank Javelins. Photo: Spc. Patrick Kirby. Source

On the eve of the hopefully positive US decision to provide us with lethal weapons, the Ukrainian info space has turned into an utter circus. The media are wheeling out wholesale numbers of talking heads who call themselves “military experts,” spout utter nonsense, and essentially, discredit (for an unknown purpose) the notion of supplying the Ukrainian Armed Forces with American anti-tank missile systems (ATMS).

A few words in this regard:

1. “Military experts” take note: there is no fifth generation ATMS. Nor is there a fourth. Only three generations exist in the world today – the “Javelin” being the third. Their two key points are: the concept of “fire and forget” and the ability to hit an armored target from above (where the armor is thinnest).
2. That said, the Ukrainian defence industry currently manufactures only second-generation ATMS (Stungas and Korsars; for the ‘people in the back’: Skifs are the same as Stungas, only with different, Belarus-made guidance devices).

This does not mean we have stupid designers. It only means that for the last quarter of a century – ever since Independence – the Ukrainian Defence Industry has been the unloved daughter of the Ukrainian authorities. Please direct all of your questions at the Kravchuks and the Kuchmas, who now like to put on an intelligent air and discuss what we should be doing next.

3. The point of obtaining Javelins for the Armed Forces of Ukraine is to compel the Russians in Donbas to observe the Minsk Agreements. If every Rostov-Buryat schmuck realizes that they can’t just ride out in their T-72 tank, deployed from the Urals, and take potshots at Ukrainian Armed Forces’ positions with impunity, the permanently comatose agreements might actually start working.

Source: Dmitry Tymchuk FB post

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