FIM-92 Stinger

Light to carry and easy to operate, the FIM-92 Stinger is a passive infrared homing surface-to-air missile designed for use on land by the US Marine Corps to counter low-altitude, short-range aircraft. The Stinger operates at a range of three to five miles and at heights of up to 10,000 feet.

Since 1984 the Stinger has been issued to many US Navy warships for point defense, particularly in Middle Eastern waters.

The CIA helped supply nearly 500 Stingers to the mujahideen warriors fighting Soviet forces in Afghanistan. The Stingers are said to have downed nearly 300 Russian aircraft, including many helicopter gunships, before Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989.

It is manufactured by Raytheon Missile Systems and also manufactured in Germany under licence by Dornier.

Cost

In 2002, the USA sold to Lithuania 69 Stinger missiles and associated equipment (vehicle-mounted launch platforms, target aquisition radars, training equipment, etc), for USD 34 million [1]. If half the cost of the contract was for the missiles themselves, the unit price would be about USD 250,000.