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FIM-92 Stinger

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FIM-92 Stinger

The FIM-92 Stinger is an American man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS) that operates as an infrared homing surface-to-air missile (SAM). It can be adapted to fire from a wide variety of ground vehicles, and from helicopters and drones as the Air-to-Air Stinger (ATAS). It entered service in 1981 and is used by the militaries of the United States and 29 other countries. It is principally manufactured by Raytheon Missiles & Defense and is produced under license by Airbus Defence and Space in Germany and by Roketsan in Turkey.

The FIM-92 Stinger is a passive surface-to-air missile that can be shoulder-fired by a single operator (although standard military procedure calls for two operators – team chief and gunner). The Stinger was intended to supplant the FIM-43 Redeye system, the principal difference being that, unlike the Redeye, the Stinger can acquire the target from head-on, giving much more time to acquire and destroy the target. The FIM-92B missile can also be fired from the M1097 Avenger and the M6 Linebacker. The missile is also capable of being deployed from a Humvee Stinger rack and can be used by airborne troops. A helicopter launched version exists and is called Air-to-Air Stinger (ATAS).

The missile is 5.0 ft (1.52 m) long and 2.8 in (70 mm) in diameter, with 3.9 in (100 mm) fins. The missile itself weighs 22 lb (10.1 kg), while the missile with its launch tube and integral sight, fitted with a gripstock and identification friend or foe (IFF) antenna, weighs approximately 34 lb (15.2 kg). It has a targeting range of up to 15,700 feet (4,800 m) and can engage low-altitude enemy threats at up to 12,500 feet (3,800 m).

The Stinger is launched by a small ejection motor that pushes it a safe distance from the operator before engaging the main two-stage solid-fuel sustainer, which accelerates it to a maximum speed of Mach 2.54 (1,930 mph; 864 m/s). The warhead contains 2.25 lb (1.02 kg) of HTA-3 (a mix of HMX, TNT, and aluminium powder) explosive with an impact fuze and a self-destruct timer that functions 17 seconds after launch.

To fire the missile, a BCU (Battery Coolant Unit) is inserted into the gripstock. This device consists of a supply of high-pressure gaseous argon, which is injected into the seeker to cryogenically cool it to operating temperature, and a thermal battery, which provides power for target acquisition: a single BCU provides power and coolant for roughly 45 seconds, after which another must be inserted if the missile has not been fired. The BCUs are somewhat sensitive to abuse and have a limited shelf life due to argon leakage. The IFF system receives power from a rechargeable battery, which is part of the IFF interrogator box, which plugs into the base of the gripstock's pistol grip. Guidance to the target is initially through proportional navigation, then switches to another mode that directs the missile towards the target airframe instead of its exhaust plume.

There are three main variants in use: the Stinger Basic, Stinger-Passive Optical Seeker Technique (POST), and Stinger-Reprogrammable Microprocessor (RMP). These correspond to the FIM-92A, FIM-92B, and FIM-92C and later variants respectively.

The POST and RMP variants have a dual-detector seeker: IR and UV. This allows it to distinguish targets from countermeasures much better than the Redeye and FIM-92A, which have IR-only. While modern flares can have an IR signature that is closely matched to the launching aircraft's engine exhaust, there is a readily distinguishable difference in UV signature between flares and jet engines. The Stinger-RMP is so-called because of its ability to load a new set of software via ROM chip inserted in the grip at the depot. If this download to the missile fails during power-up, basic functionality runs off the onboard ROM. The four-processor RMP has 4 KB of RAM for each processor. Since the downloaded code runs from RAM, there is little space to spare, particularly for processors dedicated to seeker input processing and target analysis.

The missile began as a program by General Dynamics to produce an improved variant of their 1967 FIM-43 Redeye. Production of the Redeye ran from 1969 to 1982, with a total production of around 85,000 missiles. The program was accepted for further development as Redeye II by the U.S. Army in 1971 and designated FIM-92; the Stinger appellation was chosen in 1972. Because of technical difficulties that dogged testing, the first shoulder launch was not until mid-1975. Production of the FIM-92A began in 1978. An improved Stinger with a new seeker, the FIM-92B, was produced from 1983 alongside the FIM-92A. Production of both the A and B types ended in 1987 with around 16,000 missiles produced.

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