US Army soldiers prepare to fire a Stinger missile during an exercise. (US Army)
The US Army expects to increase production of Stinger missiles to 60 a month by 2025, up 50% from the current rate, according to a spokesperson for the service's Program Executive Office Missiles and Space (PEO MS).
The ramp-up comes amid growing demand for the surface-to-air missile. The US government has provided about 1,500 Stinger missiles to Ukraine to help it counter Russia's February 2022 invasion. “The Stinger has proven to be effective in the support of Ukraine,” the PEO MS spokesperson wrote in response to a series of written questions.
To support the higher production rate, the Stinger programme is redesigning the Dual Detector Assembly (DDA), a component of the missile's seeker, because a DDA part is no longer being made, the PEO MS spokesperson told Janes . The DDA is a sensor with infrared and ultraviolet detectors.
“The new DDA will have the same physical and functional attributes as the old DDA,” the spokesperson said. “The redesigned Stinger DDA will go through a battery of qualification tests to ensure it meets all performance requirements before being integrated into the Stinger production line.”
The army expects delivery of Stinger missiles with the new DDA to begin in 2026. “The old DDA will continue to be used in production up until the current supply is exhausted,” said the spokesperson.
Raytheon Technologies produces Stinger missiles at its factory in Tucson, Arizona. The army awarded a USD624.6 million contract to the company in May 2022 to provide 1,300 Stinger missiles to replenish the US inventory.
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