This is how the Stinger missile works, the portable weapon that Ukraine uses to kill Russian helicopters and planes

Since the invasion of Russia to Ukrainean as yet undetermined number of Russian helicopters and fighter jets have been destroyed by Ukrainian forces using the Stinger surface-to-air missile, well known in the wars that have been waged for the past 40 years.

According to the images that circulated these days, specialists have confirmed that the fallen Russian aircraft were hit by missiles. Stinger, a portable guided missile that can be thrown from the shoulder of a soldier, and that He made his military debut in the Falklands War.

The UK Defense Secretary, ben wallaceconfirmed to the BBC what the West had delivered “thousands” of anti-tank missiles NLAWS and “over a thousand” Stingers missiles to the Ukrainian defense forces. The German government also said it would supply Ukraine with 1,000 anti-tank grenade launchers and 500 Stinger missiles in an emergency.

With this type of conventional weapon, the Army of Ukraine seems to be holding backor at least slowing down, the advance of the invading troops commanded by the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin.

A simple old familiar portable missile that became a headache for one of the most powerful armies in the world.

How Stinger surface-to-air missiles work

Technically known as FIM-92 Stingerthe explosive has had numerous updates, but basically It is a surface-to-air missile designed by the United States. in the early 1970s, and which entered service in 1981.

the projectile is thrown from the shoulder of a soldierwith the help of a partner, and is guided by an infrared tracker to hit the target. Can hit targets up to 5 kilometers away.

The Stinger Missiles they weigh 10 kilos and with the full launcher they weigh just over 15 kilos. They reach a speed of 700 meters per second or Mach 2.2. It is currently in the arsenal of some twenty military forces around the world and, in light of historical events, it is a bargaining chip among the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

A missile known to Russians and Argentines

The paradox is that Stinger missiles are nothing new for the Russians: It was the weapon used by the Afghans, provided by the United States government, to repel the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979-1989).

Between 500 and 1,000 Stinger missiles were handed over by the CIA to the Afghan mujahideen in 1986 to combat the forces of the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). With them shot down more than 200 Russian aircraft and managed to reinforce the idea of ​​Afghanistan as the “cemetery of empires”.

But the warlike debut of American missiles Stinger was made in the falklands war 1982according to military historians. It was employed by the British forces of the Special Air Service (SAS, for its acronym in English) against the aircraft of the Argentine Air Force.

At that time, this missile was quite a novelty: it was not the classic rocket launcher like the bazooka American or the Panzerschreck German that the Nazis used in World War IIbut of a guided missile launcher.

According to the chronology of the war, The Stingers shot down two Argentine aircraft: a plane and a helicopter. A pucara was intercepted by a Stinger on May 21, 1982.

according to the book The Unseen War of the historian and journalist Marcelo Larraquyan SAS patrol that operated during the English landing in the San Carlos Strait, and was hidden on Mount Sussex, fired a Stinger missile against the Pucará of Captain Jorge Benítez when flying at 150 meters. The plane was shot down, Benítez managed to eject before crashing and saved his life.

As published by the site Mercopressover the years it was confirmed that A Stinger missile fired by SAS forces also shot down the Argentine Puma AE 508 helicopter, piloted by Captain Pedro Obregón.north of Mount Kent, on May 30 of that year, between 9 and 10 a.m.

After impact by fall and fire, six Argentine combatants died belonging to Scorpion Squadthe special forces of the National Gendarmerie deployed in Malvinas.

_________________________________