EVALUATING NEW WEAPON SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY - THE JAVELIN VERSUS THE DRAGON

To achieve its missions, the US Army needs to take advantage of improv ements in weapons technology. To replace the medium antiarmor Dragon w eapon system, the army is testing a new system called Javelin. We used simulation to explore Javelin's potential to enhance the effectivenes s of the mechanized infantry. We developed scenarios employing the Jan us(A) high-resolution combat model. These scenarios represent force-on -force trials of mechanized versus fully modernized armor heavy threat s in deliberate defense and movement-to-contact missions. Our results indicate that the Javelin performs better than the Dragon in mechanize d force. These findings and related study results led to the US Army's decision to replace the Dragon with the Javelin in its mechanized inf antry units.