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Talk:FGM-148 Javelin
Additional Images
Correction
Fixed all the calibre notes to 127mm since this is the diameter of the missile. I'm fairly sure the 142mm is the outside diameter of the tube, while the calibre is the diameter of the inside of the tube. Evil Tim 03:36, 25 May 2011 (CDT)
Image
Is this a real Javelin, or just a model / mock-up? I know the CLU is usually protected with what look like big blocks of polystyrene when the thing's actually in use, is this just what it looks like without them? Evil Tim (talk) 19:02, 21 August 2017 (EDT)
Locking/Target ID
So, this is a bit more about lock-on launchers in general, but I feel this is as good a place as any to put this question. On various pages, launchers of this ilk are often described as incorrectly firing without locking onto a valid target - usually just free-firing, or sometimes locking onto something they shouldn't (e.g. the Modern Warfare-series Javelins that can lock onto an arbitrary spot on the ground to let you use them as mortars). But this kinda made me wonder: how is a "valid target" determined? How does the launcher "know" what is and isn't a vehicle? I mean, it says on this page that the Javelin seeks tanks' IR signatures, but how does it know that a big, heated object is a tank (or some other ground vehicle) and not, say, a gas generator, or a burning shed, or a bunch of people huddled together, or a particularly warm patch of ground? Would it not be able to lock onto an inactive tank? Or even one that was just really cold?
Since we're on the subject, what about MANPADS? I know that you're only supposed to fire them at aircraft, but could the IR seeker bits theoretically lock onto a grounded vehicle? For that matter, could a Javelin lock onto an aircraft? I don't see any way that it'd be able to distinguish the two, especially if the latter was sitting on the ground (or if the former was in the air, though if that's the case you probably have bigger things to worry about). I doubt that either would be effective in the other's role (since I know that a Stinger, for example, fires a fragmentation warhead that'd do practically nothing against tank armor, and I'd imagine that a Javelin's rocket is too slow to hit an airplane, or something along those lines), but you could still get a lock, no? Where is the line drawn?
Sorry for all the questions, but if anybody knows, I'd really appreciate some info. This's been bugging me for a while. Pyr0m4n14c (talk) 22:22, 20 April 2020 (EDT)