FIM-92 Stinger

The FIM-92K missile after being launched from an Ozelot.

Description

The FIM-92 Stinger is an American infrared homing surface-to-air missile. It exists in two variants: FIM-92E and FIM-92K, and was introduced in Update "Wind of Change". It is also known as the "Fliegerfaust 2 Stinger" in German service. The Stinger is what is commonly known as a MANPADS missile - short for MAN-Portable Air Defense System - and was developed to be portable and self-reliant. As such, the missile comes equipped with an Infra-Red Counter-Countermeasure (IRCCM) seeker, meaning it can reject enemy flares with devastating accuracy and home in straight towards an enemy aircraft. While lacking in range compared to larger, bulkier SAM systems such as the Tor-M1 or ADATS, the significantly more discreet hulls and moderate range of 6 km means just as in real life these missiles can pose a threat at a moment's notice.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• Gepard 1A2
• LAV-AD
• Machbet
• Ozelot

General info

The FIM-92E and 92K are identical outside of the 92K having a proximity fuse of 1 meter, noticeably increasing its lethality in cases of near misses.

FIM-92E characteristics
Calibre	70 mm
Mass	10.1 kg
Guidance	IR
IRCCM	Yes
Aspect	All-Aspects
Lock range in rear-aspect	11 km (6.84 mi)
Lock range in all-aspects	6 km (3.73 mi)
Launch range	5 km (3.11 mi)
Maximum speed	670 m/s
Maximum overload	13 G
Missile guidance time	15 secs
Explosive mass	540 g TNTe
Fuze delay	1 m
Fuze Sensitivity	0.1 mm

FIM-92K characteristics
Calibre	70 mm
Mass	10.1 kg
Guidance	IR
IRCCM	Yes
Aspect	All-Aspects
Lock range in rear-aspect	11 km (6.84 mi)
Lock range in all-aspects	6 km (3.73 mi)
Launch range	5 km (3.11 mi)
Maximum speed	670 m/s
Maximum overload	13 G
Missile guidance time	15 secs
Explosive mass	540 g TNTe
Fuze delay	1 m
Fuze Sensitivity	0.1 mm
Trigger Radius	1 m

Effective damage

The Stinger produces somewhat low shrapnel. This is not to say the missile lacks lethality as some people like to claim, but as it is a man-portable missile its warhead simply isn't as large as conventional SAMs. A hit will usually prove fatal to almost all aircraft, but more resilient aircraft such as the Su-25 (Family) may occasionally survive a direct hit. It is however to be noted that often when a Su-25 is hit the aircraft itself may seem fine, but usually suffers irreparable damage to the control wires or fuel tanks in the process, so regardless of any situation firing off more than 2 Stingers at any aircraft is inadvisable.

Comparison with analogues

The Stinger is similar to its contemporaries which include but are not limited to the 9M39, Type 91, and Mistral MANPADS class missiles. The 9M39 is roughly equivalent to the Stinger with a similar explosive warhead content and no proximity fuse like the FIM-92E, flying at a slightly slower speed and with a worse all aspect lock range, whereas the Mistral is closer to being a direct upgrade instead with more Gs pulled, a faster firing speed and a warhead with three times more filler. All in all, the Stinger is adequately balanced between practicality and efficiency.

Usage in battles

Stingers are best used when an enemy plane is further away than gun range but is still causing you problems. Within an approximately 6 kilometer bubble around your vehicle, a Stinger launched with reasonable margins to the enemy will score a direct hit so long as the enemy does not actively dodge the missile. It is preferable that the missile is launched front aspect when it comes to maneuverability as it is more tricky to dodge a front aspect 10G missile than it is a rear aspect one - but it is also to be noted that this gives the enemy a chance to react. A good use for Stingers is to wait for an enemy aircraft to make a swooping pass, and then shoot the missile at the six of said enemy who will usually only be focusing on gaining some distance between the anti-aircraft systems and themselves. When doing this, it is also helpful to lead the missile - Stingers only pull in the low 10s of Gs, and as such giving the missile a figurative boost can and will often be the difference between a hit and a miss.

Against enemy rotary aviation the Stinger struggles more, unfortunately. The lack of an electro-optical track like its Strela contemporary means that if the seeker fails to see the helicopter you may be stuck staring at a helicopter 3 kilometers away leisurely taking care of your teammates with an unresponsive missile. In this case, it is advisable to try and get closer if possible, or to avoid areas with terrain clutter to reduce the chances of an unsuccessful lock.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Fire-and-forget
• IRCCM makes it highly resistant to flares once launched
• K variant has a proximity fuse

Cons:

• Low overload of only 13 G sees that the missile is defeated by most defensive manoeuvres
• 6 km all aspect range is outranged by some AGMs
• Low accuracy within 1 mi (1.61 km)
• Small Warhead
• Low Missile Guidance Time (15s)

History

Stinger Development

In the 1960s, the US military's standard man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS) was the FIM-43 Redeye, a missile launcher developed by Convair/Ponoma. However, the Redeye missiles were deemed to be too slow, unmanoeuverable, and could not distinguish its target source well enough to be an effective anti-aircraft weapon. A program for an improved missile was launched in 1967, titled Redeye II. This new missile program was part of the Advanced Sensor Development Program, which sought to give the man-portable missile an all-aspect seeking capability. By 1971, Redeye II was chosen as the next standard MANPADS missile, and was given the designation FIM-92. The name of the program was eventually changed in March 1972 into the Stinger.

A US Army Sergeant shoulders a FIM-92 Stinger.

The contract to develop the missiles went to General Dynamics in June 1972. The first tests with the missiles began in November 1973, though technical problems caused delays that the first missile was only fired shoulder-launched in 1975. The Stinger Production Qualification Test-Government (PQT-G) began in April 1976. The PQT-G concluded in 1977, and resulted in a mass production contract in April 1978 for General Dynamics to produce the FIM-92A Stinger missiles. The missiles reached the US military, where the Stinger missiles reached IOC (Initial Operational Capability) status in February 1981, resulting in the Stinger's steady replacement of all other MANPADS in service. The basic model, the FIM-92A, featured a cooled conical-scan IR seeker that allowed all-aspect acquisition and homing abilities as well as a AN/PPX-1 Identification, Friend or Foe (IFF) system.

Improvements into the FIM-92 stingers led to succeeding variants. The FIM-92B started development in 1977. It is also known as Stinger-POST (Passive Optical Seeker Technique) and featured an improved IR/UV seeker to better distinguish countermeasures. The next version, the FIM-92C began development in 1984 and was named as Stinger-RMP (Reprogrammable MicroProcessor). Introducing a new microprocessor that was reprogrammable, the Stinger-RMP allowed the Stinger platform to adapt to new threats and countermeasures without requiring a new missile design. The Stinger-RMP became the basis of the succeeding FIM-92D to G variants, which featured various improvements on the Stinger-RMP capabilities.

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

• ATAS (AIM-92) - Helicopter-borne variant of the Stinger

External links

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Army Technology. "Stinger Man-Portable Air Defence System (MANPADS)." Army Technology, Verdict Media Limited, Website. Accessed 07 Apr. 2021 (Web Archive).
• Parsch, Andreas. "FIM-92" Designation Systems, 14 Feb. 2005, Website. Accessed 07 Apr. 2021 (Web Archive).
• Pike, John; Sherman, Robert. "FIM-92A Stinger Weapons System: RMP & Basic." Federation of American Scientists - Military Analysis Network, 09 Aug. 2000, Website. Accessed 07 Apr. 2021 (Web Archive).