FGM-148 Javelin

The Lockheed Martin FGM-148 Javelin is an American man-portable anti-tank guided missile.

History
First produced in 1994, the FGM-148 Javelin is a state-of-the-art anti-armor system produced for the U.S. military. The Javelin uses either a 'top-attack' method to penetrate the thinly armored turret or roof of MBTs and other armored vehicles, or a 'direct fire mode'. Once fired, the missile "pops out" of the launch tube and ignites in mid-air. The missile then rockets skyward to an appropriate angle from which to hit its target at about a 90 degree angle. Apart from the U.S. armed forces, the Javelin is also operated by nations such as the U.K., Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Jordan, the Czech Republic, Taiwan, and the UAE. It is currently being used in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
The FGM-148 Javelin appears exclusively in the single-player campaign, most notably in the missions, "The Bog" and "Heat". It can also be found in "Safehouse", "All Ghillied Up", and "All In". It can't be fired in enclosed spaces, or a message telling you that there isn't enough room will appear.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
The FGM-148 Javelin returns in Modern Warfare 2; in campaign, the Javelin first appears in the level "Of Their Own Accord", where the player is tasked with sniping Russian soldiers armed with Javelin launchers; after doing so, the player then gets an opportunity to pick up a Javelin and shoot down attacking Mi-28 gunships with it. It later appears in "Loose Ends", where Archer uses one to destroy Ultranationalist vehicles.

In Multiplayer, the Javelin is the second-to-last launcher to be unlocked. It functions similarly to the Stinger, but has a more sophisticated targeting system: vehicles can be targeted behind cover with arrows pointing to their location. A short beeping noise will confirm when the player has a solid lock on the vehicle. This effectively allows the player to fire in cover, providing there is enough room to fire the rocket. It can shoot down most attack helicopters in a single hit and the Pave Low in two, or sometimes even in only 1 if it tricks the Pave Low into not deploying flares. It has been confirmed that the Javelin can even destroy enemy UAVs. However, it has a second function which the Stinger does not have: the Javelin is able to lock onto areas on the ground, effectively making it a sophisticated mortar.

When firing the Javelin, the user must be careful to have enough vertical clearance as the rocket will fly forward a short distance then straight upwards. If there is a roof or overhang above and in front of the user, the Javelin will detonate, killing the user and those around them.

The Javelin has unusual loading behavior. A user can actually carry 2 missiles, one in reserve and one in the launcher. After spawning, the player's missile is actually in the reserve slot. Upon drawing the weapon for the first time, the missile is loaded into the launcher, opening the reserve slot. Additional missiles can only be acquired if the reserve slot is open. Because of this using Scavenger and Javelin can be a little confusing. The player must draw the launcher and let the reload complete at least once to get a second missile. After firing, the Javelin will switch back to the primary weapon without reloading.This means that after firing the launcher, a reserve missile, if present, will NOT be loaded into the launcher by default which means the reserve slot will remain full, which means running over an ammo bag will NOT increase the user's missile count to two. The user must switch back to the Javelin, wait for the long load animation to complete, then run over the ammo bag to pickup the second missile.

Modern Warfare: Mobilized
The Javelin makes an appearance in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized as one of the three launchers in game, the other two being the RPG-7 and the Explosive Tip Crossbow. It is the same as the console versions, but possible targets are shown in black boxes instead of green, and there is no restriction to where it can be fired.

Trivia

 * In order to fire off successive shots, a spent launch tube has to be detached from the CLU and a new one attached in place. This of course would be cumbersome to depict during game play, as a result, the Javelin is simply lowered off to the side while reloading.
 * Much like a real Javelin system, the Javelin takes a top-attack flight profile when attacking armored vehicles, with the strange exception of "All In" where the missile will fly directly towards the enemy BMPs, just like how the Stinger flies directly towards aircraft (straight on). Even the direct-fire mode of the Javelin will still go up in the air.
 * It is possible to fire the Javelin and make it hit a building rapidly in "All In". The player needs to shoot the second BMP near the silos, take the Javelin to the beginning and fire. It will hit a building, killing troops and possibly the BMP itself.
 * In real life, the cost of each Javelin is $125,000 and cost of each missile is $80,000 (£60,000).
 * On the map Estate the Javelin can be fired from a distance into the house through the roof.
 * In Modern Warfare 2 the Javelin appears to have an expiration date which can be read below the sight saying 'EXP. DATE:05/19/79'. Which is chronologically incorrect; the Javelin was first produced in 1994. It could be an easter egg of some sort.
 * If one shoots a Javelin at air support and it is desroyed when the missile shoots up, the rocket will continue upwards before coming down, occasionaly leading to suicides from standing under air support.

Glitch
A very popular glitch, often called the Javelin Glitch, had recently sprung up.

Many players had abused the glitch. It has been removed from the PC version of the game and is currently being targeted by Xbox Live officials: those caught abusing the glitch can be banned from 24 hours to two weeks. PSN users however are not being banned for glitching. A patch was released December 9th, 2009 to fix this glitch. This glitch worked with all Launchers except the Thumper, likely due to its required detonation range.

When the glitch is used, upon the user's death, a Javelin missile will immediately explode where they died. The explosion has a very large radius and is automatic kill. To counter the glitch, attempt to kill these players when they are far away from you and your teammates. If this isn't possible, you can try running away or as a last resort cooking a frag grenade/sticking a semtex/shooting your feet with an RPG-7 when they get close. You will still die but at least you will get a kill(if done correctly) and the glitcher won't. Often it is done in a kamikaze charge (they can't climb ladders or vault over objects) so they're fairly easy to notice. The perks Marathon, Lightweight (or Danger Close), and Commando were often used to exploit it further.

As of the December 11th Patch, this Glitch has been fixed. However, one may still hesitate for a couple seconds to kill people carrying Javelin Launchers because one may be used to people abusing the glitch.