Advertisement

President Joe Biden to visit Lockheed Martin's Javelin missile plant

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on Ukraine in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on Thursday. Photo by Yuri Gripas/UPI
1 of 2 | President Joe Biden delivers remarks on Ukraine in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on Thursday. Photo by Yuri Gripas/UPI | License Photo

April 27 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden announced Wednesday he will visit the Lockheed Martin plant in Alabama next week to see Javelin anti-tank missiles and other weapons being supplied to Ukraine for its fight against Russia.

Lockheed Martin announced Biden will head to Troy, Ala., on Tuesday. The aerospace defense contractor also has plants in Huntsville, Anniston and Enterprise.

Advertisement

"Lockheed Martin is proud to support our customers and we welcome President Biden to our Troy facility," the company tweeted.

Lockheed Martin is the world's largest defense contractor and manufactures the Javelin weapon system, a portable anti-tank missile system that allows soldiers to move toward an enemy.

After launch, the Javelin automatically guides itself to the intended target, allowing the gunner to take cover and avoid counterfire.

Advertisement

The Javelin missile, currently being used in Ukraine, is a joint venture for Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.

Lockheed made its first deliveries of the new Javelin FGM-148F, featuring an advanced multipurpose warhead, in 2020.

"The MPWH incorporates the latest generation shaped charged technology to defeat present and future advanced armored threats while adding a fragmenting steel warhead case to significantly improve lethality against soft targets and light armored vehicles," Lockheed Martin said.

The Javelin missile was first deployed in 1996 and was used extensively by U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Scenes from Ukraine: Destruction, atrocities and mourning

Priest Andrii Gavalin presides over the funeral of Eugene Bogdanov, 35, in Bucha, Ukraine, on May 10. Bogdanov went missing two months ago. His wife, Natalia Bogdanova, was searching for him throughout the Kyiv and Bucha regions when his body was found at a morgue in Belaya Tserkov on May 9. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI | License Photo

Latest Headlines