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Raytheon Electronic Systems FIM-92 Stinger low-altitude surface-to-air missile system family
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| 13 October 2000 |
In May 1992, the then Hughes Aircraft Company and General Dynamics Corporation announced that Hughes had agreed to acquire General Dynamics' missile business.
This acquisition included General Dynamics' then Air Defense Systems Division whose primary manufacturing facilities were in Pomona and Rancho Cucamonga, California. The unmanned strike systems portion of the Convair Divisions' primary plants were in San Diego and Sycamore Canyon, California.
In September 1992, Hughes Missile Systems Company announced that it was consolidating missile manufacturing activities from several locations into its plant in Tucson, Arizona. This meant the end of major production lines in San Diego, Pomona and Rancho Cucamonga, California and Camden, Arkansas. The consolidations were completed by 1994. In early 1998 Hughes Missile Systems was taken over by Raytheon and the company is now known as Raytheon Electronic Systems.
General Dynamics' FIM-43A Redeye system achieved its initial operational capability in 1967. Even as it did so, a joint work programme between the US Army and the General Dynamics Pomona Division was in the second year of studying new design concepts and initiating the testing of components for a Redeye II weapon system with an all-aspects target engagement capability.
This Advanced Seeker Development Programme (ASDP) eventually gave rise, in 1972, to the second-generation man-portable XFIM-92A Stinger design with a more sensitive seeker head and a better kinematic performance, compared to its predecessor, with the addition of a forward aspect engagement capability to its flight envelope and an integral IFF system.
However, the first guided tests in 1974 at the White Sands Missile Range resulted in a number of problems being found with Stinger. This caused the US Army Missile Command (MICOM) to request that the Ford Aerospace Aeronutronic Division develop what was designated the Stinger Alternate system, using a reusable laser beam device attached to the launcher assembly as the guidance system.
To cure problems found with the system and to reduce the continually rising costs, General Dynamics initiated a design review which resulted in a 15 per cent reduction in the total number of electronic parts used and the introduction of a separate grip-stock assembly. These changes made a considerable improvement in the test results obtained in the 1975 firings and, by February 1976, the US Department of Defense was satisfied that the early guidance difficulties had been overcome. They were so convinced that, in 1977, the funding used for the development of the Stinger Alternate was stopped. In 1978, following an engineering development programme which had needed only 130 test round firings to validate the design, Stinger was finally released for production. This started in 1979 with the first production systems being delivered the same year and the first military units achieving initial operational capability status in February 1981 with the basic FIM-92A Stinger version.
In mid-1977, after a four-year advanced development programme and just before the basic Stinger was released for production, General Dynamics was awarded a full-scale engineering development contract for the next generation of Stinger. This involved the fitting of a microprocessor-controlled Passive Optical Seeker Technique (POST) homing head which uses a dual Infra-Red (IR) and Ultra-Violet (UV) rosette-pattern image scanning guidance technique to enhance the missile's target detection capabilities. The use of the different seeker only involves a modular change to the weapon and allows it to discriminate effectively between a target, any deployed IR decoy flares and background clutter, when they lie within detectable range, thus preventing a false launch.
Limited procurement of this FIM-92B Stinger-POST version began in 1983 alongside the earlier variant with the production of both ending in 1987. Operational deployment of Stinger-POST systems to the US Army began in July 1987. A total of 15,669 Basic Stinger and just under 600 Stinger-POST missiles were made. The last Stinger-POST rounds were produced by August 1987.
As a further increase to the effectiveness of Stinger, General Dynamics began development in September 1984 of what is essentially a fourth-generation man-portable SAM system. Known as the Stinger-Reprogrammable MicroProcessor (RMP) system, the change allows the onboard digital microprocessor to be periodically updated with new software to counter any new threat technology, instead of having to go through a missile redesign each time. Production of this FIM-92C model began in November 1987 at the General Dynamics Valley Systems Division Stinger plant in California. The export version of the Stinger-RMP does not have the reprogrammable module but contains embedded Infra-Red CounterMeasures (IRCM) to defeat all known NATO threats. In March 1988, Valley Systems Division was awarded a US$695 million multiyear Stinger production contract to produce over 20,000 rounds through to 1991. A final total of 29,108 Stinger-RMP missiles is expected for the US Army. Additional rounds are being procured for foreign military sales and the other US armed forces.
Raytheon Electronic Systems continues production of the Stinger-RMP at its Tucson facility at over 1,000 missiles a year.
Before General Dynamics' production of the Stinger-RMP, on 2 September 1987, the US Army MICOM selected the then Raytheon Missile Systems Division as the second source contractor for production of this version. The initial US$24.6 million contract was for 400 Stingers with a US$54.4 million option for an additional 1,500 missiles which was exercised in 1989. Raytheon was allowed to compete with the Hughes-acquired General Dynamics from 1990 onwards for the annual production contracts. This was done in order to keep the overall acquisition costs down for the US armed services. Raytheon was declared qualified for bidding purposes for the FY91 contract bid. In April 1990, Raytheon received a US$45.1 million contract to produce 1,383 missiles. In the following year General Dynamics reverted to the sole source supplier. The US Army requirement was for 29,108 FIM-92C Stinger-RMP rounds with last funding for procurement being provided in FY92.
In FY92, an upgrade contract was placed to improve the FIM-92A/B/C performance against the latest countermeasures. Known as the FIM-92D Block 1 rounds, modifications were made to the RMP software to see its low-signature targets such as UAVs, cruise missiles and light helicopters in even more cluttered countermeasures environments. A ring-laser gyro roll sensor and a lithium battery are also fitted. First production deliveries were made of the Stinger Block 1 rounds in 1995. The programme will involve upgrading all the remaining FIM-92A and FIM-92B missiles in the inventory to the standard of FIM-92D, involving up to 8,500 rounds plus; it will be finished by FY99. The Stinger Block 1 is also made by the European Stinger Project Group which switched production to this version. Stinger Block 1 is in production as new build and retrofit. Block 1 missiles are deployed with front echelon Bradley Linebacker, Avenger and aviation units as a helicopter air-to-air missile.
In mid-2000, Italy chose the Stinger Block 1 to arm its A129 Mangusta attack helicopter.
Plans are also under way to develop and produce Advanced Stinger (Block 2) from the year 2001 onwards. The Block 2 is an evolutionary technology insertion which will provide for the replacement of the current FIM-92D seeker with an advanced technology Focal Plane Array (FPA) imaging IR seeker, known as the Small Diameter Imaging Seeker (SDIS), to increase the detection range. A total of up to 5,000 missiles would be retrofitted for use in both the forward air defence and air-to-air role against helicopters in clutter, unmanned aerial vehicles, cruise missiles and stealthy modern fixed-wing aircraft.
The European Stinger-RMP Production Programme is covered earlier in this section (qv) under International projects.
In German service it is known as the Fliegerfaust-2 (FLF-2) and is deployed with the army, navy and air force. A series of launch platforms was developed by a subsidiary of Daimler-Benz Aerospace for use on ships, wheeled and tracked vehicles.
Both Germany and the Netherlands have also under-taken trials on their man-portable Stinger systems with an early warning radar system to enhance its performance. The Royal Netherlands Army used the Hollandse Signaalapparaten Radar Equipment Providing Omnidirectional Reporting of Targets at Extended Ranges (REPORTER) mobile trailer-mounted I/J-band radar system with an integral IFF system in a highly successful series of tests in late 1985. The radar provided early warning of targets up to 40 km away and flying between 15 and 4,000 m altitude which were then handed over to a Stinger launch team for engagement.
The Basic Stinger received worldwide attention during the Afghanistan conflict, when over 250 Russian fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters were destroyed by Mujahideen guerrillas using US-supplied Stingers. Despite limited training, the Mujahideen achieved over 80 per cent combat success with the Stinger missile. To date, the Basic Stinger has been responsible for 270 confirmed kills against both fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft types.
Other nations which have received varying numbers of Stinger systems include Bahrain, Chad, France, Iran, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. Of these, France and Chad have used limited numbers successfully against Libyan aircraft during the 1986-87 border skirmishes. The British Special Air Service (SAS) used a small number of FIM-92A Stingers during the 1982 Falklands (Malvinas) conflict, where they destroyed an Argentine Air Force FMA IA 58A Pucara twin-propeller close-support aircraft during the 21 May San Carlos amphibious landings.
In September 1988, Switzerland chose the export variant of the Stinger-RMP for its man-portable air defence system. A maximum of 2,500 will be procured at a cost of US$315 million.
In US service all four armed services use the weapon and the US Air Force has small detachments trained to defend airfields and Vital Points (VPs), especially in Asia at the South Korean airbases used by its units. It has also been revealed that the American President's residences in Washington and elsewhere are protected by specialist Stinger teams in case of an aerial attack by terrorist organisations.
Each of the US Army's armoured, mechanised, light infantry, airborne and air assault divisional Air Defense Artillery (ADA) battalions have a Stinger Platoon (of four sections) with each of its four batteries. For the airborne and air assault divisions three of the sections have five two-man teams each, while the fourth has only three teams to give a divisional total of four two-man section HQs and 72 firing teams. For the division 86 mechanised and armoured units, the number of Stinger teams is reduced to 60 whereas the light infantry divisions only have 40. A team is normally equipped with an M998 series (4 × 4) HMMWV light vehicle, a GSQ-137 Target Alert Data Display Set (TADDS) comprising a 6 kg portable unit with a display, audio warning and VHF receiver, two AN/PPX-3 IFF interrogators and a basic load of six Stingers. The TADDS warns the team of an approaching aircraft, provides a tentative identification and gives approximate range and azimuth to the target. The datalink between the team and the radar can handle 49 friendly and 49 unknown (that is, hostile) targets. Each Patriot fire-control platoon also carries one Stinger team set (less the TADDS) as part of its normal equipment allowance. During a heavy attack both team members would shoulder a launcher providing two independent ready to launch weapons with four extra weapons available.
Early warning is provided by the eight 1 to 15 km (on a 0.2 m2 radar cross-section target) range pulse Doppler D-band MPQ-49 Forward Area Alerting Radars (FAARs), with integral AN/TPX-50 (Mk XII) IFF systems, held in the ADA headquarters radar platoon, which transmit target position data to the TADDS by radio link. Increasingly, however, the FAARs are being used without TADDS and the Stinger teams are being cued on to a target by a voice communication VHF radio link direct to the radar operator.
The Ground-Based Sensors (GBS) are replacing the older FAARs in the division air defence alerting radar role. The GBS is a pulse Doppler, 3-D phased array X-band radar that provides low-altitude target data at altitudes from 0 to 4,000 m and at ranges of up to 40 km. It can automatically detect, track, classify, identify and report a target in 360º azimuth coverage.
In the US Marine Corps the Stinger system is assigned to the Low-Altitude Air Defence (LAAD) battalions which have two firing batteries each of three platoons. A platoon has three sections each of five Stinger teams that are each equipped with an HMMWV light vehicle and four Stinger missiles.
A Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) is assigned a fully automated Tactical Air Command centre, two Tactical Air Operations Centres, a Light Anti-Aircraft Missile (LAAM) battalion and a complete LAAD battalion (of 90 Stinger teams). A Marine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB) is assigned a Tactical Air Command Centre, a Tactical Air Operations Centre, an LAAM battalion and an LAAD battery (equating to four I-HAWK batteries and 45 Stinger teams), whilst a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) has a single LAAD platoon (of 15 Stinger teams) attached.
The US Navy uses Stinger teams to supplement warship and support vessel close-range air defences in high-threat areas. A team of two is normally employed with the gunner located within a circular pedestal-type open mount. The other team member acts as a target locator using information sent over the vessel's internal communications net. Stinger is also the principal air weapon on the US Navy's fleet of special operations patrol boats.
In 1991-92 the US Army deployed the Bradley SHORAD vehicle to replace Vulcan self-propelled guns in its Heavy Mechanised Divisions (see section later in this entry). This was followed by the M6 Linebacker vehicle (see entry in Self-propelled surface-to-air missile section).
To date, Stinger is integrated or deployed on over 20 vehicle and helicopter platforms in 19 countries and over 40 services.
During the 1999 Kashmir conflict between India and Pakistan, a US-made Stinger was credited with downing one of the three Indian aircraft lost in combat operations.
Stinger weapon systems in Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield
During the 1991 Gulf War, Stinger systems were deployed extensively by a number of the Coalition forces but, as far as is known, did not engage any Iraqi targets. Post-war debriefing of Iraqi command staff credited Stinger with deterring the use of the 500-strong Iraqi fleet of helicopters that included numerous Hind gunships.
The then latest version of the Stinger - Stinger-RMP equipped with the latest MOD IV software - was deployed with at least three of the four US armed services in support of the Gulf operations. Basic Stinger and export variant Stinger-RMP systems were also deployed with the armed forces of several of the other nations of the Coalition forces.
Virtually every US Army ground combat unit had the Stinger either in the MANPADS role or as the principal armament of the wheeled Avenger PMS fire unit.
Since initial deployment Stinger has, in combat, defeated more modern fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters than any other fighter, helicopter or missile system worldwide since the Second World War.
The US Marine Corps used the same two-man MANPADS team as the US Army, with the team (gunner and team chief) carried in an HMMWV with four ready to fire Stingers and two reload missile rounds.
The US Navy used MANPADS teams aboard its ships, primarily for close in defence against small aircraft and very small surface craft. The US Army used the ATAS variant on its OH-58C helicopter in the air-to-air role, whilst the US Air Force may have deployed some of its specially trained Air Police in the MANPADS role to guard some of the airbases it used in the Arabian Peninsula region.
Description
A Stinger system comprises the launcher assembly with a missile, a grip-stock, an IFF interrogator and an argon gas Battery Coolant Unit (BCU) (which consists of the squib activated argon gas coolant unit and electrical generating chemical battery).
The launcher assembly consists of a glass fibre launch tube with frangible end covers, a sight, desiccant, coolant line, gyro-boresight coil and a carrying sling. A detachable grip-stock which has a receptacle for the BCU is fitted with an IFF connector. The grip-stock is also fitted with an impulse generator (BCU energised), a seeker head uncage bar, a weapon launch trigger, an AN/PPX-1 IFF interrogator switch and a foldable antenna and control electronics for the missile gyro.
The missile has a two-stage, three-phase rocket motor. A separable launch motor ejects the missile followed by an advanced `boost-sustain' motor which provides high supersonic speed and agility out to maximum range. In its FIM-92A version it is fitted with a second-generation cooled passive IR conical scan reticle seeker head with discrete electronic components to provide signal processing. They process the IR energy received from the target in the 4.1 to 4.4 µm wavelength region to determine its relative angle and then, by using a proportional navigation guidance technique, continually predict an intercept point.
In the FIM-92B version the reticle seeker unit is replaced by one that uses an optical processing system. This has two detector materials, one sensitive to IR (in the waveband region 3.5 to 5.0 µm) and the other responsive to UV energy (in the waveband region 0.3 to 0.4 µm), together with two microprocessors which are integrated into microelectronic circuitry for the signal processing phase. The latest Stinger-RMP takes this one stage further by introducing a microprocessor reprogramming facility into the circuitry to allow for new threat characteristics and guidance tailoring. The logic allows for recognition of countermeasures and their filtering out from the seeker's guidance picture.
In all cases the seeker output is sent as steering data to the guidance assembly which converts it into guidance signal format for the control electronics. This module then commands the two movable (of four) forward control surfaces to manoeuvre the weapon on to the required intercept course. The control concept used is known as the single channel rolling airframe type and, as such, considerably reduces both the missile weight and manufacturing costs. As the weapon nears its target, the seeker head activates its Target Adaptive Guidance (TAG) circuit within one second of impact to modify its trajectory away from the exhaust plume towards the critical area of the IR target itself. The fuzing system allows for both contact activation as well as missile self-destruction after 20 seconds of flight time following the launch. The Picatinny Arsenal warhead carried has a smooth fragmentation casing to ensure that the desired blast/fragmentation effect is achieved.
A typical tactical engagement follows this sequence of events. Once alerted to a target the gunner shoulders the system, inserts the BCU into its grip-stock receptacle and unfolds the IFF antenna. They then remove the front protective cover of the launcher tube to reveal the IR or IR/UV transparent frangible disc, raise the open sight assembly and connect their beltpack IFF interrogator unit via a cable to the grip-stock. The gunner is now ready to acquire the target visually. They do this by using the sight and estimating its range with the estimation facility of the system. If required, they now interrogate the target using the AN/PPX-1 system. This can be done by the gunner without having to activate the weapon. The azimuth coverage of the 10 km range IFF system is essentially the same as that of the optical sight enabling the gunner to associate responses with the particular aircraft that is in view. An audio signal 0.7 second after the IFF challenge switch is depressed provides the gunner with the cue as to whether the target is friendly or an unknown for possible engagement.
If they decide that it is unfriendly they continue to track the aircraft and activate the weapon system by depressing the impulse generator switch. This causes the impulse generator to energise the BCU which then releases its 6,000 PSI pressurised argon gas coolant to the IR detector and generates a dual-polarity ±20 V DC output for at least 45 seconds. The cooling takes 3-5 seconds. It provides all the prelaunch electrical power required for the seeker coolant system, gyro spin-up, launcher acquisition electronics, guidance electronics, activation of the missile's onboard thermal battery and ignition of the ejector motor.
The seeker is allowed to look at the target through the IR or IR/UV transparent front launcher disc and, when sufficient energy is received by the detector for acquisition to have occurred, an audio signal is sent to the gunner. Total time required for tracking and missile activation is about 6 seconds. They then depress the seeker uncage bar and, using the open sight, insert the superelevation and lead data.
The newer versions of Stinger (Block 1 and Block 2) preclude the need to superelevate the missile.
Once this is accomplished, the gunner depresses the firing trigger which activates the missile battery. This powers all the missile functions after launch and operates for around 19 seconds until the dual-polarity ±20 V DC output drops below the required minimum for use. A brief time delay operates, following which the umbilical connector to the grip-stock is retracted and a pulse is sent to ignite the ejector motor. Total time to motor ignition from depression of the firing trigger is only 1.7 seconds. Upon ignition the initial thrust generated imparts roll to the missile airframe and starts the fuze timer system. The missile and its exhaust then break through the frangible discs at either end of the launcher tube.
Before the missile completely clears the end of the tube, the ejector motor burns out in order to protect the gunner from the rocket blast, and two movable control surfaces spring out. Once it clears the tube, the two fixed and the four fixed and folded tail fins open out and the ejector motor is jettisoned. The missile then coasts to a predetermined safe distance from the gunner where the fuze timer ignites the dual-thrust Atlantic Research Mk 27 solid-propellant rocket motor. When the correct acceleration rate is reached after one second of flight, the time delayed Magnavox M934 time delayed impact fuzing circuit for the 1 kg HE blast, smooth cased fragmentation warhead is armed and the self-destruct timer started.
The seeker continues to track the target throughout the flight with the electronics processing the received signals to eliminate or reduce the line of sight pointing angle to the target. The weapon flies a proportional navigation path to the interception point near to which the TAG circuit is activated and a signal is generated within the seeker head to add bias to the steering signal causing the missile airframe to guide itself into a vulnerable part of the target. Even if the target is using 8 g manoeuvres the missile is still capable of engaging it.
Once the gunner has depressed the trigger and the missile has left the launch tube, they are free either to get another weapon round, to assemble another missile round for a further engagement (which takes less than 10 seconds), take cover or move to another location.
US Army training needs indicate that 136 hours of instruction are required on the Stinger system before weapon qualification is given. The M60 field handling and M134 tracker head training versions are used for instruction.
Specifications
Missile Type: 2 stage, low altitude
Length: (missile) 1.52 m
Diameter: (missile) 0.070 m
Wing span: 0.091 m
Weight: (missile (at launch)) 10.1 kg
(launcher (plus missile)) 13.3 kg
(launcher (complete)) 15.7 kg
(battery coolant unit) 0.4 kg
(beltpack IFF system (including connecting lead)) 2.6 kg
(grip-stock) 2 kg
Propulsion: solid fuel ejector and dual-thrust boost/sustainer rocket motors
Guidance: FIM-92A passive IR homing; FIM-92B/C passive IR/UV homing
Warhead: 1 kg HE blast smooth-case fragmentation with time-delay contact fuze
Max speed: M2.2
Max range: 8,000 m
Max effective range:
(FIM-92A) greater than 4,000 m
(FIM-92B/C) 4,800 m
Min effective range: 200 m
Max altitude:
(FIM-92A) 3,500 m
(FIM-92B/C) 3,800 m
Min altitude: effectively ground level
Launcher: man-portable single-round disposable with reusable grip-stock
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| Stinger man-portable surface-to-air missile system from the rear (US Army) |