U.S. had problems with supplying Javelin missiles to Ukraine because Lockheed Martin did not have the chips to produce them - Joe Biden

U.S. President Joe Biden said that Lockheed Martin has had problems supplying Javelin to the Ukrainian Armed Forces this year due to a shortage of semiconductors.

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If open sources are to be believed, Ukraine, along with the United States, is the largest operator of Javelin portable anti-tank missile systems. Nevertheless, the U.S. has had problems supplying missiles this year due to a shortage of chips.

The day before Joe Biden again spoke about the importance of semiconductors for the country. The US president said that earlier this year he had visited the Lockheed Martin plant in Alabama. The American company could not produce Javelin missiles for Ukraine because of the lack of chips. And each missile, according to Gina Raimondo, U.S. Secretary of Defense, contains about 250 chips.

Biden added that expanding semiconductor production is an important issue for national security. Chips are needed not only for the Javelin, but also for other weapons systems that already exist or are in development. Recall that the U.S. is actively testing hypersonic weapons, which should appear in 2023.

Now the U.S. is imposing restrictions on technology exports to China and investing in domestic chip production. For example, Micron will allocate $15 billion to create a new plant.

Source: White House