Ukraine’s army gets domestic version of US Javelin anti-tank weapon

Ukraine’s armed forces have brought a domestically produced, next generation anti-tank guided missile system, the Corsar, into service, the state-run defense industry concern UkrOboronProm reported on Aug. 29.

The Ukrainian-made weapon was designed by the Luch engineering bureau in Kyiv in 2013, and has already undergone numerous live firing tests by the military.

The new missile system is designed to strike armored or fortified targets within a range of 2.5 kilometers, with targeting carried out via a stealthy, low-energy laser beam.

“One of the main features of this complex is its size, allowing to move it around and deliver off-the-shoulder fire without using additional devices,” the Corsar’s designers said. “However, for the sake of convenience of use at fixed defensive positions, fighters can use a special mount.”

The missile system weighs only 4 kilograms, they added.

The Corsar system uses two different types of missiles.

The first missile type, the RK-3K, is designed to strike moving and stationary tanks protected with both conventional and explosive-reactive armor. They can also destroy helicopters hovering in the air, the developers say.

The other type, the RK-3OF, is designed to engage hostile light armored vehicles, infantry, and battlefield structures such as fortified machine gun emplacements. It has a blast-fragmentation warhead with explosively formed penetrators.

Luch has already produced and transferred to the Armed Forces over 50 missiles and an undisclosed quantity of launchers, the concern reported.

The Corsar system’s developers say that it bears a strong resemblance to the well-known U.S.-made man-portable anti-tank system, the FGM-148 Javelin.

According to media reports, the US government has been considering the possibility of transferring lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine’s armed forces, which have been waging a war against Russian-led proxy forces in the country’s east since April 2014.

During his visit to Ukraine on Aug. 24, Ukrainian Independence Day, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis confirmed that the United States was considering supplying Ukraine with lethal defensive weapons.

If Washington did decide to send weapons to Ukraine, the Javelin would likely be among them, as it would help blunt the threat of the Russian-led forces’ tank force, which is estimated to number more than the combined tank forces of the biggest European states.