Ireland cleared to buy $46 million-worth of Javelin launchers, missiles

A member of the Irish Defence Forces fires a Javelin missile at a target in a 2020 video. (Ireland Ministry of Defence screengrab, via YouTube)

WASHINGTON — In order to bolster Ireland’s ability to aid in international peacekeeping missions, the US State Department recently approved a potential deal for Dublin to buy $46 million-worth of Javelin anti-armor launchers and missiles.

The approval, announced by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency late Wednesday, is for 36 Lightweight Command Launch Units that will be added to a previous order of 44 Javelin missiles, as well as some associated equipment and training.

“This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by improving the security and capabilities of Ireland to support its participation in peacekeeping missions with the United Nations and NATO’s Partnership for Peace program,” the DSCA notification says. The Irish Defence Forces did not immediately provide a response to a request for comment for this report.

Ireland is not a member of NATO and has a longstanding pledge of neutrality — a pledge increasingly coming under renewed debate, according to analysts — but it does take part in the Partnership for Peace program. NATO describes that program as “bilateral cooperation between individual Euro-Atlantic partner countries and NATO” that’s meant to “increase stability, diminish threats to peace and build strengthened security relationships” between the alliance and participating nations.

For Dublin, the program “has primarily involved ensuring the interoperability of our Defence Forces, which has greatly facilitated Ireland’s participation in UN and EU missions overseas,” the Irish MoD says.

In all, Irish Defence Forces are currently deployed in Africa, Europe and the Middle East, taking on missions as varied as helping to enforce arms embargos in Libya to serving as peacekeepers as part of the United Nations Interim Force (UNIFIL) Lebanon.

Ireland holds an inventory of around 100 Javelin weapons for use on select peacekeeping missions, dependent on the threat environment, according to the Irish Times. As part of mission readiness training ahead of the UNIFIL deployment to south Lebanon in 2023, the 123rd Infantry Battalion planned on firing Javelin weapons, dealing with “simulated explosive strikes,” alongside personnel evacuation activities and anti-ambush tactics, per a statement from the Irish Defence Forces.

To protect its neutrality, Ireland decided against supplying Ukraine with Javelin weapons and continues to donate only non-lethal items to Kyiv. In March, Dublin announced a €100 million non-lethal aid package comprising of €20 million for the Ukraine de-mining and IT capability coalitions and €80 million for “procurement partnerships with EU Member States,” potentially including “radar systems and anti-drone jamming devices,” noted the announcement.

Tim Martin contributed to this report from Belfast.