Pentagon Awards $300Mln to Deliver Javelin Missiles to Ukraine, 5 Other States

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US Army has awarded a $307 million Foreign Military Sales contract to Raytheon to supply more Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine, Estonia and Lithuania as well as to Australia, Turkey and Taiwan, the Department of Defense said in a press release.

"Raytheon-Lockheed Martin Javelin JV, Tucson, Arizona, was awarded a $307,535,950 modification to Foreign Military Sales (Australia, Estonia, Lithuania, Turkey Taiwan and Ukraine) contract for Javelin Weapon System full-rate production," the release said.

The sale of the US-made missiles was approved in March 2018 by the US State Department and they went for the estimated price of $47 million. Included in the sale were 210 missiles and 37 launchers, the release added.

The Javelin system, built by the Raytheon Company and Lockheed Martin, utilizes a high-explosive, anti-tank warhead that is capable of defeating modern armored vehicles by attacking from above.

The process of clearing the sale to Ukraine was undertaken by the Trump administration in December 2017.

WATCH: Ukraine Tests US-Made Javelin Anti-Tank Missiles for First Time

Russia has repeatedly warned against supplies of lethal weapons to Ukraine saying that this would result in escalation of the military conflict in the country's eastern Donbass region. This stance has also been supported by a number of European officials.