Raytheon to build the means to launch shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles from helicopters and UAVs

Summary points:

• Order enables helicopters and unmanned aircraft to launch FIM-92 Stinger missiles, expanding their air defense capabilities.
• Upgraded launchers enable Stinger missiles, originally designed for ground use, to fire from aircraft, with improved infrared targeting and nighttime capabilities.
• Stinger air-to-air launchers feature advanced targeting upgrades for enhanced accuracy and off-axis seeker lock-on, supporting various military aircraft.

QUANTICO MARINE BASE, Va. – U.S. Marine Corps aerial weapons experts needed a way to launch ground-based shoulder-fired FIM-92 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles from helicopters and uncrewed aircraft. They found a solution from the RTX Corp. Raytheon segment in Tucson, Ariz.

Officials of the Marine Corps Systems Command at Quantico Marine Base, Va., announced a $51.9 million order to Raytheon last month for Stinger air-to-air launchers for helicopters like the AH-64 Apache, UH-60 Black Hawk, OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters, as well as from uncrewed aircraft like the MQ-1 Predator.

Stinger air-to-air launchers enable the FIM-92 Stinger missile, originally designed as a shoulder-fired surface-to-air weapon, to attack enemy aircraft from helicopters and certain unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

These launchers have modifications for pairing with helicopter and UAV avionics and controls. They use the same missile as the shoulder-launched Stinger, but use specialized launch rails and fire-control systems. New versions of these launchers have improved infrared seekers, batteries, signal processing, and nighttime capability.

Targeting upgrades

An air-to-air launch (ATAS) upgrade enhances targeting and integration on different helicopters, and supports high maneuver and off-axis seeker lock-on before launch.

Stinger ATAS launchers typical mount to their helicopters and UAVs in pairs or sets of four on helicopter wings or weapon pods that link to the cockpit targeting systems.

Air-to-air stinger missiles are nearly five feet long, 2.8 inches wide, and weigh 35 pounds. They have a five-mile range, and have use fragmentation warheads. The missiles can fly as fast as 2.2 times the speed of sound.

On this order, RTX Raytheon will do the work in Tucson, Ariz., and Diné, N.M., and will be finished by September 2026. For more information contact RTX Raytheon online at www.rtx.com/raytheon/what-we-do/integrated-air-and-missile-defense/stinger-missile, or Marine Corps Systems Command at www.marcorsyscom.marines.mil.