U.S. TRAINER: UKRAINIANS NEED TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Weapons coming from West with no help to troubleshoot
The Ukrainians had an urgent problem. Their Javelin missile launchers — sophisticated, finicky gear each costing six figures — were inoperable and no one in their unit could fix them.
They sought help from two Americans, who engineered a fix for one by cannibalizing electrical components from a video game controller, said Mark Hayward, a U.S. Army veteran and volunteer trainer. The others, he said, were thought to be broken until it was discovered that the user instructions had gotten gummed up in Google Translate. Hayward recalled the episode with profound frustration that the Pentagon, which has rushed more than 5,000 Javelins to Ukraine, hasn’t done more to ensure that those battling Russian forces have help when such needs arise.
The powerful antitank weapons have come to symbolize U.S. involvement in Ukraine and the race to equip its army for the devastating fight that has unfolded. But lost in the scramble, according to Ukrainian commanders and Western volunteers, is effective, timely logistical assistance — things like training modules, spare batteries and other basics that the U.S. military itself relies upon. The United States’ wartime customer service, they say, is lacking.
“We’re sending equipment,” Hayward said in an interview. “But have we decided not to do tech support?”
The Javelin locks onto a target’s thermal picture using a command launch unit, or CLU. The guided missiles can punch through armor from up to 2 1⁄2 miles away. But the system is far more complicated to use than other shoulder-fired weapons. It requires batteries and argon coolant to operate, and comes with a 258-page user manual.
Importantly, Hayward said, it appears the Javelins sent to Ukraine do not include instruction cards directing military personnel to call a toll-free number if the weapons malfunction or otherwise require repair. He has opened several cases of them but found no such card, and training cadres across multiple units have told him they were unaware of any Javelin support line, he said.
Hayward characterized the call center as an important asset for U.S. troops unable to troubleshoot glitches on their own. That the Biden administration would not extend the same level of support to Ukraine, he said, is unacceptable.
Manufacturing of the Javelin is a partnership of Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Missiles and Defense.
Also missing from the Javelin shipments, Hayward said, are two computer-based programs the U.S. Army considers fundamental to its training curriculum for the system. One is a basic skills guide that details the multistep launch sequence. It’s required learning for American military personnel who specialize in such weapons. The other is a tactical training kit carried by U.S. troops during field exercises in which they simulate combat.