Sgt Stuart Mackie holds an encased Javelin missile ready to be loaded into the command launcher unit, operated by WO2 Darryl Heaslip, DFSW TAC Wing, School of Infantry. Photo by Bill Cunneen, Army newspaper

Watch out, armour
First Javelin instructors qualify at School of Infantry

By Major John Liston
The first M98A1 Javelin training course for the School of Infantry's Direct Fire Weapons team has marked an important step towards the introduction into service in 2005 of the Army's newest anti-armour weapon.

In the first week of December, instructors from 4RAR(Cdo) qualified the first five School of Infantry instructors in the operation of the guided missile system. They will serve as assistant instructors for the following course.

Although the Javelin has been used by SASR in Afghanistan, for training and used in combat in Iraq, where a trooper destroyed two enemy vehicles, this is the first Javelin course to be held in Australia for non-SF personnel.

Another course will be conducted next year before the School of Infantry instructors train soldiers from infantry and cavalry units.

Manufactured by Raytheon/Lockheed Martin, Javelin is a fire and forget weapon that can engage armoured targets beyond 2000m. Unlike previous in-service weapons such as the wire-guided MILAN, it does not require the operator to maintain visual contact with the target once the missile has been launched, permitting him to quickly reload and move to another firing position.

The missile can defeat any armoured vehicle in service world-wide but will supplement rather than replace the 84mm Carl Gustav short range anti-armour weapon.

Capt Gary Bergman, SFTC, said Javelin, transportable by one man, was an extremely sophisticated missile system.

"The gunner identifies the target and the computerised target system does the rest," he said.

Operators could be experts on the weapon without actually needing to fire it. A computer simulation system provided the trainee with every conceivable situation he would encounter, such as a malfunction or infra-red clutter, in multiple battlefield scenarios.

During training, the instructor would be able to see on a computer screen the same picture the trainee could see through both the day and night vision sights and could assess a trainee during target engagement or provide a full critique by playback review.

Operators can maintain their skills during field exercises or operations through the training software and any new system upgrades can be done by a computer chip replacement or by download.

The simulation is so effective at developing and maintaining operator skills that trainees are not required to fire the weapon to become qualified.

This will allow live missiles to be better utilised during unit and collective training activities.

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