The U.S. Army has begun a plan to upgrade and extend the service life of its Stinger Block 1 missiles, service officials at the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant said recently.
The portable infrared heat-seeking surface-to-air missiles, first produced in the 1980s, will have their expected service life extended by an additional ten years after workers replace aging components, an Army statement said.
The Stinger service life improvement extension program will upgrade 850 Army missiles and 1,155 for the Marine Corps. The $11 million project is being done by Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Ala.
In addition to extending the service life, the Stinger upgrade program will install a warhead section equipped with a proximity fuse, Army officials said in a statement.
The proximity fuse is designed to increase the weapon’s effectiveness against unmanned aerial systems.
The new upgraded Stinger missile will be redesignation as the FIM-92J. Work is expected to continue through 2016, Army officials said.
