NEW DELHI: The Army has signed its first contract for the American FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank guided missile, a weapon it has sought since 2009 without concluding a purchase. The larger question of manufacturing the missile in India, which the two governments have discussed for a decade, is still being worked out.
The Letter of Offer and Acceptance has been signed under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route. The disclosure first came from the US envoy to India, Sergio Gor, who wrote on X on Friday, "BIG news! India plans to buy the battle-tested Javelin anti-tank system." He said the purchase could open the way to co-production of the missile in India.
Gor linked the development to remarks made by the US Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, at the Shangri-La Dialogue earlier this year, where Hegseth said India would acquire the system.
The purchase is being processed under the Army's emergency procurement (EP) powers, which permit Service headquarters to conclude urgent acquisitions within a delegated financial ceiling of Rs 300 crore. The quantities involved are limited.
In November last year, the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible sale to India of 100 Javelin rounds, one fly-to-buy missile and 25 launch units at an estimated cost of $45.7 million, together with trainers, simulation rounds and spares. A separate case covered 216 Excalibur artillery projectiles at $47.1 million.
The quantity India has contracted is understood to be smaller. Lt Gen Ajay Kumar, the then Director General of Infantry, said in October that the Army was pursuing 12 launchers and 104 missiles. A congressional notification records approval for a possible sale and not the quantity eventually ordered.
The attraction of the Javelin lies in its guidance. Its imaging infrared seeker locks on to the target before launch, allowing the gunner to fire and immediately withdraw. The Milan-2T and Konkurs-M missiles presently in service are wire-guided and require the operator to remain exposed, tracking the missile until it strikes.
The Javelin can be set to attack from above, where the armour of a tank is thinnest and carries a tandem warhead intended to defeat explosive reactive armour. Its soft-launch mechanism permits firing from within a bunker or an enclosed room, a useful attribute in mountainous terrain. The missile has also acquired a considerable reputation during the war in Ukraine.
Indian soldiers first fired the Javelin during Exercise Yudh Abhyas at Babina in late 2009.
In August 2010, the then defence minister, A.K. Antony, informed Parliament that the ministry proposed to approach Washington under the FMS route for a third-generation anti-tank missile, along with transfer of technology. The proposal did not advance, and an American offer of joint production made in 2019 lapsed similarly.
The Israeli Spike was selected over the Javelin in 2014 for an order valued at about $500 million. That acquisition was cancelled in 2017, revived after the visit of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in 2018, and subsequently shelved.
The Army obtained a limited quantity under emergency powers in 2019, and in August 2023 the ministry placed an order worth Rs 287 crore with Kalyani Rafael Advanced Systems, the Bharat Forge and Rafael venture that manufactures Spike variants in Hyderabad.
The Javelin, however, reportedly failed when the Army conducted trials at high altitude in Ladakh, while the Israeli Spike had earlier faced difficulties in the heat and dust of the Thar desert. Neither the Army nor the manufacturers publicly clarified or commented on the outcomes of these trials.
The indigenous programme has meanwhile progressed. The defence ministry announced this year that the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) had flight-tested the Man-Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile in a top-attack profile against a moving target at the KK Ranges in Maharashtra and that the missile was ready for induction. Bharat Dynamics and Bharat Electronics are its production partners.
