India has signed the letter of offer and acceptance with the United States to purchase the Javelin anti-tank guided missile system through its foreign military sales process. This comes nine months after the US State Department approved the possible sale, reportedly worth $45.7 million, to the Indian Army following New Delhi’s request.
The missile system is produced by the Javelin Joint Venture, a partnership between RTX and Lockheed Martin, and is currently used by the US Army and Marine Corps as well as several international customers. It is designed to be used against a wide array of targets, including armoured vehicles and fortified positions.
US ambassador to India Sergio Gor hailed the move as one which would further deepen bilateral defence cooperation.
All you need to know about the Javelin system
📌 What is the Javelin weapon?
{{/usCountry}}📌 What is the Javelin weapon?
{{/usCountry}}The Javelin system is an advanced, medium-range, fire-and-forget anti-tank guided missile. According to the Lockheed Martin website, it is one of the world's “premier” shoulder-fired anti-armor system.
📌How does it work?
The anti-tank missile system automatically guides itself to the target after launch, allowing the gunner to take cover and avoid counterfire, according to the manufacturer. The soldiers or marines using it can reposition immediately after firing, or reload to “engage another threat.”
The weapon uses an arched top-attack profile, climbing above its target for improved visibility, and then strikes where the armor is weakest, according to Lockheed Martin. To fire, the personnel has to place a cursor over the selected target, following which the Javelin command launch unit sends a lock-on-before-launch signal to the missile.
📌Key features and other details
• Javelin is a single man-portable fire-and-forget medium-range antitank weapon system designed to defeat all known and projected threat armor. It can be fired in top or direct attack modes.
• It was developed and produced for the US Army and Marine Corps by the Javelin Joint Venture between Lockheed Martin in Orlando, Florida and Raytheon in Tucson, Arizona.
• The highly lethal medium-range Javelin has been in full-rate production since 1994, and made its 50,000th delivery in 2021, according to the Lockheed Martin website.
• Lockheed Martin specified that the anti-tank missile system's fire-and-forget capability provides “superior survivability” by enabling the operator to immediately relocate after firing.
• The anti-tank weapon is a platform-employed precision weapon system, and can defeat “all known and projected armor on the battlefield”, including main battle tanks and softer targets. Its soft-launch design allows the system to be fired safely from enclosed structures, including buildings and bunkers.
What did US ambassador Gor say on the agreement?
US ambassador Sergio Gor on Friday said the agreement “reflects a defense partnership that is growing deeper, more capable, and more consequential.”
“The Javelin agreement demonstrates the depth of US support for the Indian Army and creates new opportunities for our defense industries to work together. We see tremendous potential for future cooperation that strengthens the defense industrial bases of both countries,” Gor added.
Gor made the announcement on X, saying the purchase, “highlighted by” US secretary of war Pete Hegseth at the May 2026 Shangri-La Dialogue, was a “great step forward in the US-India defense relationship and opens the door to co-production possibilities.” He further said that the engagement between Washington and New Delhi was “at record high levels.”
(With inputs from Rahul Singh)