Biden praises Alabama workers at Troy's Lockheed Martin Javelin anti-tank missile plant

TROY — About 300 employees of Lockheed Martin’s Troy assembly plant got a pep talk Tuesday from a grateful President Joe Biden.

“I’m here to say thank you,” Biden said. “Thank you, thank you.”

The president spoke for about 17 minutes to a warm reception from the crowd packed into an assembly building on the company’s sprawling property.

The Javelin anti-tank missile is among the defense systems made at the Troy facility. It is a soldier portable, shoulder-fired, disposable missile designed to kill tanks and other armored vehicles. It has a reputation of “Coming in fast and not missing.”

The United States has sent more than 5,500 Javelins to Ukraine to give the Ukrainians a weapon to stem the tide of the Russian invasion that has been going on for more than two months.

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Biden made his remarks with a backdrop of six American flags and eight Javelins stacked upright. The missile tubes bore blue and gold stripes, the national colors of Ukraine.

“You’re making a gigantic difference to those poor sons-of-guns in Ukraine, who are embarrassing the Russians,” the president said.

Biden was introduced by Linda Griffin, a 26-year employee of Lockheed’s plant. She is a senior missile assembler. She told the crowd she has touched each of the components that made up the 50,000 missiles produce here during her employment.

“It was something special,” she said of introducing the president, after the speech.

It was hard to determine who got the most applause from the crowd, Griffin or the president.

The missiles made in Troy are making a difference halfway around the world, Biden said.

“We are at a point that comes along every six or eight generations,” he said. “We are in an ongoing battle between autocracy and democracy. You’re making it possible for the Ukrainian people to defend themselves without starting a Third World War.

“If you don’t stand up to dictators, they will keep coming and coming.”

Biden observed that some parents in Ukraine are naming their children Javelin, in honor of the missiles. He also asked for support for legislation he is sponsoring to make it easier to make semi-conductors and computer chip in America. Each Javelin made in Troy has more than 200 semi-conductors he said.

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He pointed to another time, during World War II, when the United States was supplying a global war effort through its manufacturing.

“Being the arsenal of democracy means good-paying jobs for the American people,” he said.

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Marty Roney at mroney@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Biden visits factory in Troy where Javelin anti-take missiles are made