"Military and Military Sub-Plane" by Jinghai Anlan
Russia's war with Ukraine has been going on for more than a month, and in order to allow Ukraine to hold Russia back, Western countries have been continuously providing various weapons assistance to the Ukrainian army. But with such a long period of aid and so much aid, the problem now arises.
▲ Ukrainian army uses Stinger individual air defense missiles
On April 26, Greg Hayes, ceo of Raytheon, said it was no longer possible to produce Stinger shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles quickly. At Raytheon's meeting, Hayes said that due to supply chain problems, Raytheon could not quickly produce Stinger anti-aircraft missiles. At present, the United States has supplied Ukraine with a large number of Stinger individual air defense missiles.
▲ Stinger individual anti-aircraft missiles captured by the Russian army
Since the U.S. Department of Defense has not procured stinger anti-aircraft missiles for 18 years, the missile production line has long been closed. The Stinger man-portable air defense missiles currently supplied to Ukraine by the United States are from the U.S. military's inventory and have been consumed by nearly a third.
▲The Stinger individual air defense missile equipped by the US military
As originally planned, these inventory gaps would be filled by subsequent purchase orders, but no new orders have been placed until now. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a shortage of labor in the United States, while inflation has forced a large number of workers to leave factories for other livelihoods, and the lack of a large number of workers has led to a sharp decline in the entire defense production capacity. The most critical thing is that because the production line has been closed for many years, and a large number of parts used in the Stinger anti-aircraft missile have also been discontinued, either restart the relevant parts production line or design new parts to replace, which is not a problem that can be solved in a short period of time. Therefore, if the U.S. military's stockpile of Stinger anti-aircraft missiles is exhausted, I am afraid that the United States really does not have individual anti-aircraft missiles to assist Ukraine.
▲ The U.S. Army's Avenger anti-aircraft vehicle also uses Stinger missiles
The Stinger Man-Portable Air Defense Missile (1981) is an infrared-guided man-portable air defense missile (1981) of the U.S. military. The entire Stinger missile system weighs 15.68 kg, the projectile body is 1.52 meters long, 70 mm in diameter, the tail is 100 mm, the missile is propelled by a small two-section solid rocket, the maximum speed is Mach 2.2, the warhead is 3 kg penetrating warhead and delay fuze gunpowder, which can attack aircraft below 3800 meters altitude.
▲ U.S. troops using Stinger individual anti-aircraft missiles
Stinger missiles are mounted in a launcher. The launcher is connected to the fire control device, which consists of a sight, a fire controller, and an enemy or friend identifier. After firing, the launcher can be thrown away directly, and the fire control device can be reused. In addition, the Stinger missile also has a battery freezing module, which is inserted into the launcher before launch, and will inject oxygen to cool down, while energizing the missile, but the amount of gas is limited and cannot be used casually. The seeker of the Stinger missile uses indium antimonide as an infrared detector element, with an operating wavelength range of 3 to 5 microns and an optimal operating temperature of minus 200 degrees, so it must be refrigerated to work.
▲Stinger individual anti-aircraft missile
In the 1982 Anglo-Armagh War, the British army used a small number of Stinger individual anti-aircraft missiles, which was the first actual battle of Stinger missiles. However, the battle for fame was in Afghanistan. After the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, the United States vigorously supported the anti-Soviet guerrillas behind it. Among them, a number of Stinger anti-aircraft missiles are provided. In the Propaganda of the United States, from 1986 to 1988, the United States secretly provided 900 to 1200 Stinger missiles and 250 sets of launchers to the Afghan guerrillas, and the anti-Soviet guerrillas brilliantly completed the "buyer show" of stinger individual missiles, shooting down more than 269 Soviet aircraft, and the Afghan partisan soldiers only underwent simple training, but the hit rate exceeded 80%, making the Stinger missile famous in the first battle.
▲ Afghan anti-Soviet guerrillas using Stinger missiles
However, in the post-war statistics, it was found that 269 fighters were actually the sum of the records of all types of individual anti-aircraft missiles launched by the anti-Soviet guerrillas, of which the number of "blowpipe" and "Javelin" anti-aircraft missiles provided by the United Kingdom that damaged Soviet aircraft was far more than that of the American Stingers, and the so-called Stinger missile hit rate of 80% was simply exaggerated.