How this $176,000 American-made anti-tank weapon could change the course of the war in Ukraine

Ukraine’s defense against Russia is supported by billions of dollars of military aid from NATO countries. One of the most powerful and expensive weapon systems on the market is the FGM-148 Javelin, an American-made anti-tank weapon that costs about $176,000 each.

“We don’t know where or when the next kinetic war will be, and building new weapons, expanding product lines takes time,” said Cynthia Cook, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Perhaps this is the time we could think about how we invest in increasing stockpiles of precision-guided weapons and other weapons and missiles.”

Although the Javelin was praised Ukrainian government, the actual effectiveness of the weapons system remains difficult to verify independently, aside from anecdotal reports from the battlefield.

“We don’t have people on the ground and I think this is a political decision that we should reconsider,” said Rep. Mark Waltz, Florida, a former US Army Green Beret. “We could help them be actually more effective if we had advisors around, but we would have to do it in very small groups, very selectively and very quietly.”

Watch the video above to find out what the Javelin is, how it was used, and what it would take for the US to produce more of them.