US approves possible Javelin sales to UK

The potential sale of Javelin anti-armour weapons to the UK has been approved by the US State Department.

The cost of the sale of the weapons is an estimated $300m, the Pentagon has said, with the UK requesting to buy 513.

Originally developed and produced for the US Army and Marine Corps, the Javelin is a powerful shoulder-fired anti-armour system.

• What is the Javelin anti-armour weapon?
• What military equipment has the UK sent Ukraine?
• Artillery guns, drones and anti-tank weapons among next UK delivery to Ukraine

Watch: What is the Javelin missile?

The weapon's 'fire and forget' system allows the user to set a target within 2.5km, fire and then focus on a different target.

Javelin also climbs above its target for improved visibility and then strikes where the armour is weakest – even a glancing blow from a Javelin is enough to incapacitate a tank, if not fully destroy it.

The US has a history of supplying the Ukrainian military with Javelins long before Russia's invasion of the country, including 300 delivered in January.

It is not only the US providing Ukraine with Javelin missiles, as the UK has sent more than 200 Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine.