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Man-portable air-defense system

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A Soviet9K32 Strela-2in use.

Man-portable air-defense systems(MANPADSorMPADS) are portablesurface-to-air missiles.They areguided weaponsand are a threat to low-flyingaircraft,especiallyhelicopters.

Overview

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MANPADS were developed in the 1950s to provide military ground forces with protection from jet aircraft. They have received a great deal of attention, partly because armedterroristgroups have used them against commercial airliners. These missiles, affordable and widely available through a variety of sources, have been used successfully over the past three decades both in military conflicts and by terrorist organizations.[1]

Twenty-five countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Poland, Sweden, Russia, and Iran produce man-portable air defense systems.[2][3]Possession, export, and trafficking of such weapons is tightly controlled, due to the threat they pose tocivil aviation,although such efforts have not always been successful.[4][5]

The missiles are about 1.5 to 1.8 m (5 to 6 ft) in length and weigh about 17 to 18 kg (37 to 40 lb), depending on the model. MANPADS generally have a target detection range of about 10 km (6 mi) and an engagement range of about 6 km (4 mi), so aircraft flying at 6,100 metres (20,000 ft) or higher are relatively safe.[6]

Missile types

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AnFIM-43C Redeyemissile just after launch, before the sustainer motor ignites
AnSA-18(Igla) missile with launch tube and gripstock (top) and anSA-16(Igla-1) missile and launch tube (bottom)
Japanese airmenaiming aType 91Kai MANPADS at a mock airborne target in the Pacific Alaskan Range Complex as part of Red Flag – Alaska in 2008.
AStarstreakSAM fired from a M1097AN/TWQ-1 AvengerAir Defense platform.

Infrared

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Main article:Infrared homing

Infrared homing missiles are designed to home-in on a heat source on an aircraft, typically theengineexhaust plume, and detonate awarheadin or near the heat source to disable the aircraft or to simply burst it into flames. These missiles usepassive guidance,meaning that they do not emitheat signatures,making them difficult to detect by aircraft employing countermeasure systems.[7]

First generation

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The first missiles deployed in the 1960s were infrared missiles. First generation MANPADS, such as the USRedeye,early versions of the Soviet9K32 Strela-2,and the ChineseHN-5(A copy of the Soviet Strela-2), are considered "tail-chase weapons" as their uncooled spin-scanseekerscan only discern the superheated interior of the target'sjet enginefrom background noise. This means they are only capable of accurately tracking the aircraft from the rear when the engines are fully exposed to the missile's seeker and provide a sufficient thermal signature for engagement. First generation IR missiles are also highly susceptible to interfering thermal signatures from background sources, including the sun, which many experts feel makes them somewhat unreliable, and they are prone to erratic behaviour in the terminal phase of engagement.[8]While less effective than more modern weapons, they remain common in irregular forces as they are not limited by the short shelf-life of gas coolant cartridges used by later systems.

Second generation

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Second generation infrared missiles, such as early versions of the U.S.Stinger,the SovietStrela-3,and the ChineseFN-6,use gas-cooled seeker heads and a conical scanning technique, which enables the seeker to filter out most interfering background IR sources as well as permitting head-on and side engagement profiles. Later versions of theFIM-43 Redeyeare regarded as straddling the first and second generations as they are gas-cooled but still use a spin-scan seeker.[citation needed]

Third generation

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Third generation infrared MANPADS, such as the FrenchMistral,the Soviet9K38 Igla,and the USStinger B,userosette scanningdetectors to produce a quasi-image of the target. Their seeker compares input from multiple detections bands, either two widely separated IR bands or IR andUV,giving them much greater ability to discern and reject countermeasures deployed by the target aircraft.[6][8]

Fourth generation

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Fourth generation missiles, such as the canceled AmericanFIM-92 Stinger Block 2,RussianVerba,ChineseQW-4,IndianVSHORADand JapaneseType 91 surface-to-air missileuse imaging infraredfocal plane arrayguidance systems and other advanced sensor systems, which permit engagement at greater ranges.[9]

Command line-of-sight

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Main article:Command line-of-sight

Command guidance(CLOS) missiles do not home in on a particular aspect (heat source or radio or radar transmissions) of the targeted aircraft. Instead, the missile operator or gunner visually acquires the target using a magnified optical sight and then uses radio controls to "fly" the missile into the aircraft. One of the benefits of such a missile is that it is virtually immune to flares and other basic countermeasure systems that are designed primarily to defeat IR missiles. The major drawback of CLOS missiles is that they require highly trained and skilled operators. Numerous reports from theSoviet–Afghan Warin the 1980s cite Afghanmujahedinas being disappointed with the British-suppliedBlowpipeCLOS missile because it was too difficult to learn to use and highly inaccurate, particularly when employed against fast-moving jet aircraft.[10]Given these considerations, many experts believe that CLOS missiles are not as ideally suited for untrained personnel use as IR missiles, which sometimes are referred to as "fire and forget" missiles.[11]

Later versions of CLOS missiles, such as the BritishJavelin,use a solid-state television camera in lieu of the optical tracker to make the gunner's task easier. The Javelin's manufacturer,Thales Air Defence,claims that their missile is virtually impervious to countermeasures.[12]

Laser guided

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Main articles:Laser guidanceandbeam riding

Laser guidedMANPADS use beam-riding guidance where a sensor in the missile's tail detects the emissions from a laser on the launcher and attempts to steer the missile to fly at the exact middle of the beam, or between two beams. Missiles such as Sweden'sRBS-70and Britain'sStarstreakcan engage aircraft from all angles and only require the operator to continuously track the target using a joystick to keep the laser aim point on the target: the latest version of RBS 70 features a tracking engagement mode where fine aim adjustments of the laser emitter are handled by the launcher itself, with the user only having to make coarse aim corrections. Because there are no radio data links from the ground to the missile, the missile cannot be effectively jammed after it is launched. Even though beam-riding missiles require relatively extensive training and skill to operate, many experts consider these missiles particularly menacing due to the missiles' resistance to most conventional countermeasures in use today.[13][14]

Notable uses

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Against military aircraft

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Against cruise missiles

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On 10 October 2022, during the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine,Ukrainian forces were recorded allegedly shooting down a Russiancruise missileusing MANPADS.[21]Since then, other instances have been videoed and shared on social media platforms.[22]

Against civilian aircraft

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Countermeasures

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A 9K38 Igla (NATO reporting name: SA-18) dual missile launch platform mounted on a Mercedes-BenzUnimogof the Mexican Navy in a Mexican military parade.

Man-portable air defense systems are a popularblack marketitem for insurgent forces.[24]Their proliferation became the subject of theWassenaar Arrangement's(WA)22 Elements for Export Controls of MANPADS,theG8Action Planof 2 June 2003,[25]the October 2003Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC) Summit,Bangkok Declaration on Partnership for the Futureand in July 2003 theOrganization for Security and Co-operation in Europe(OSCE), Forum for Security Co-operation,Decision No. 7/03: Man-portable Air Defense Systems.[26]

Understanding the problem in 2003,Colin Powellremarked that there was "no threat more serious to aviation" than the missiles,[27]which can be used to shoot down helicopters and commercial airliners, and are sold illegally for as little as a few hundred dollars. The U.S. has led a global effort to dismantle these weapons, with over 30,000 voluntarily destroyed since 2003, but probably thousands are still in the hands of insurgents, especially inIraq,where they were looted from the military arsenals of the former dictatorSaddam Hussein,[28][29]and inAfghanistanas well. In August 2010, a report by theFederation of American Scientists(FAS) confirmed that "only a handful" of illicit MANPADS were recovered from national resistance caches in Iraq in 2009, according to media reports and interviews with military sources.[30]

Military

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With the growing number of MANPADS attacks on civilian airliners, a number of differentcountermeasuresystems have been developed specifically to protect aircraft against the missiles.[citation needed]

Civilian

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Weapons by country

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Practice shooting from MANPADS
Departure of a rocket from MANPADS
HS M09 hybrid air-defense system onBOV-3vehicle with 8 ×Strela 2

Black market

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Although most MANPADS are owned and accounted for by governments, political upheavals and corruption have allowed thousands of them to enter the black market. In the years 1998–2018, at least 72 non-state groups have fielded MANPADS.[37]Civilians in the United States cannot legally own MANPADS.[38]

See also

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References

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Portions of this article were taken fromHomeland Security: Protecting Airliners from Terrorist MissilesArchived5 June 2008 at theStanford Web Archive,CRS Report for Congress RL31741, February 16, 2006 by the Congressional Research Service, division of The Library of Congress which as a work of the Federal Government exists in the public domain.

  1. ^Footnote 1 in original source (CRS RL31741): "Shoulder-fired SAMs have been used effectively in a variety of conflicts ranging from the Arab-Israeli Wars, Vietnam, the Iran-Iraq War, to the Falklands Conflict, as well as conflicts in Nicaragua, Yemen, Angola, and Uganda, the Chad-Libya Conflict, and the Balkans Conflict in the 1990s. Some analysts claim that Afghan mujahedin downed 269 Soviet aircraft using 340 shoulder-fired SAMs during the Soviet-Afghan War and that 12 of 29 Allied aircraft shot down during the 1991 Gulf War were downed by MANPADS."
  2. ^CRS RL31741 page 1
  3. ^Wade Bose, "Wassenaar Agreement Agrees on MANPADS Export Criteria",Arms Control Today,January/February 2001, p. 1., quoted in CRS RL31741
  4. ^"MANPADS Proliferation - FAS".Fas.org.Archivedfrom the original on 31 August 2006.Retrieved4 September2006.
  5. ^"Defence & Security Intelligence & Analysis - Jane's 360".Janes.com.Archivedfrom the original on 5 April 2006.Retrieved4 September2006.
  6. ^abMarvin B. Schaffer, "Concerns About Terrorists With Manportable SAMS", RAND Corporation Reports, October 1993, quoted in CRS RL31741
  7. ^CRS RL31741 page 1-2
  8. ^abCRS RL31741 page 2
  9. ^"Raytheon Electronic Systems FIM-92 Stinger Low-Altitude Surface-to-Air Missile System Family",Jane's Defence,October 13, 2000, quoted in CRS RL31741
  10. ^Timothy Gusinov, "Portable Weapons May Become the Next Weapon of Choice for Terrorists",Washington Diplomat,January 2003, p. 2., quoted in CRS RL31741
  11. ^CRS RL31741 page 2-3
  12. ^"Land-Based Air Defence 2003-2004",Jane's,2003, p. 37., quoted in CRS RL31741
  13. ^CRS RL31741 page 3
  14. ^Richardson, Mark, and Al-Jaberi, Mubarak,"The vulnerability of laser warning systems against guided weapons based on low power lasers",Cranfield University, April 28, 2006
  15. ^"Airframe Details for F-16 #84-1390".F-16.net.Archivedfrom the original on 26 December 2016.Retrieved9 April2017.
  16. ^"UK: Igla missile's potent force".BBC News.13 August 2003.Archivedfrom the original on 8 February 2018.Retrieved9 April2017.
  17. ^Cohen, Roger (11 December 1995)."French Deadline Passes With No Word From Serbs on Pilots".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on 12 May 2016.Retrieved17 February2017.
  18. ^John Pike (21 March 1999)."SA-7 Grail".FAS.Archivedfrom the original on 3 February 2009.Retrieved9 February2009.
  19. ^"Russian fighter jet shot down in Syria's Idlib province".BBC. 3 February 2018.Archivedfrom the original on 13 June 2018.Retrieved21 July2018.
  20. ^de Larrinaga, Nicholas (3 May 2014)."Two Ukrainian Mi-24s shot down by MANPADS".IHS Jane's Defence Weekly.Archivedfrom the original on 13 November 2014.Retrieved4 May2014.
  21. ^Mazurenko, Alona (10 October 2022)."Ukrainian soldier shoots down missile using portable anti-aircraft missile system".Ukrainska Pravda.Retrieved23 October2022.
  22. ^"Reddit post of MANPADS shooting down a cruise missile".28 December 2022.Retrieved31 December2022.
  23. ^Northrop Grumman fact sheetArchived2007-10-30 at theWayback Machine
  24. ^"MANPADS at a Glance",Arms control.
  25. ^G-8 to Take Further Steps to Enhance Transportation Security,Federation of American Scientists, archived fromthe originalon 6 November 2010,retrieved14 August2010.
  26. ^Man-Portable Air Defense System (MANPADS) Proliferation,FAS.
  27. ^"Countering the MANPADS threat: strategies for success (man-portable air defense systems)",Access my library.
  28. ^Jehl, Douglas; Sanger, David E. (6 November 2004)."U.S. Expands List of Lost Missiles".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on 31 July 2017.Retrieved26 March2018.
  29. ^"Iraq's Looted Arms Depots: What the GAO Didn't Mention".Fas.org.Archivedfrom the original on 9 November 2010.Retrieved14 August2010.
  30. ^Drummond, Katie."Where Have All the MANPADS Gone?".Wired.Archivedfrom the original on 29 December 2013.Retrieved8 March2017.
  31. ^"DRDO conducts successful test flight of VSHORADS missile".Times of India. PTI. 28 September 2022.Retrieved27 September2022.
  32. ^"Iranian TOW Missile Knockoffs Spread to War Zones".Warisboring.com.18 June 2016.Archivedfrom the original on 5 January 2018.Retrieved4 January2018.
  33. ^"How Iran's Revived Weapons Exports Could Boost Its Proxies".Washingtoninstitute.org.Archivedfrom the original on 4 January 2018.Retrieved4 January2018.
  34. ^"SeaFuture 2023 - First public appearance of MBDA Italy Next Generation V-SHORAD concept mock-up".5 June 2023.
  35. ^Kolukısa, Hasan (30 August 2020)."SUNGUR'da PorSav hava savunma füzeleri görüldü".DefenceTurk(in Turkish).Retrieved25 January2021.
  36. ^"Delivery of PorSav Very Low Altitude Air Defense Missile Starts".RayHaber | RaillyNews.8 May 2020.Retrieved25 January2021.
  37. ^"The Loose" Shoot and Scoot "Missiles and the Threat to Aviation | the New Yorker".The New Yorker.Archived fromthe originalon 14 December 2018.Retrieved14 December2018.
  38. ^Short Range SAM Division, Missile and Space Intelligence Center, Defense Intelligence Agency. Undated (published 2002).https://fas.org/irp/dia/manpads_components.pdf.
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