it would seem crazy to sacrifice it if it wasn’t damaged
To be fair, the best kit you’ll ever get is the right kit at the right time. If what you need is a tandem warhead that can track, hit and destroy pretty much any vehicle, or punch through a bunker, at anything from a couple hundred meters to a couple kilometres, and you have a Javelin… you’re in luck! On the other hand, if what you need is a tandem warhead to destroy a static armoured target that you can’t get line-of-sight to, and you have a Javelin… You’re carrying a very expensive but useless rocket and tracking system that just happens to also contain the exact warhead you need.
Once a piece of equipment like a Javelin is in the field, it’s only real value is in whether it can help you achieve your objective. Its dollar value seizes to be of relevance. The only relevant questions are “Do I have a large enough supply of this munition to prioritise using it for that target?” and “Do I have another munition that I can and should use instead?” If the answer is “yes” to the first and “no” to the second, you use the munition in whatever way is most practical.
I mean there’s a saint named after them.
And yeah it would seem crazy to sacrifice it if it wasn’t damaged in fairness.
To be fair, the best kit you’ll ever get is the right kit at the right time. If what you need is a tandem warhead that can track, hit and destroy pretty much any vehicle, or punch through a bunker, at anything from a couple hundred meters to a couple kilometres, and you have a Javelin… you’re in luck! On the other hand, if what you need is a tandem warhead to destroy a static armoured target that you can’t get line-of-sight to, and you have a Javelin… You’re carrying a very expensive but useless rocket and tracking system that just happens to also contain the exact warhead you need.
Once a piece of equipment like a Javelin is in the field, it’s only real value is in whether it can help you achieve your objective. Its dollar value seizes to be of relevance. The only relevant questions are “Do I have a large enough supply of this munition to prioritise using it for that target?” and “Do I have another munition that I can and should use instead?” If the answer is “yes” to the first and “no” to the second, you use the munition in whatever way is most practical.