veteran’s corner

Tom Krabbenhoft

Last week I touched on the stinger and its impact and history the Russians have with it. I briefly described how easily it can be deployed and used. I also touched on how deadly it is and how many are being shipped. Although it could possibly be the very best shoulder fired anti-aircraft missile ever it does have drawbacks.

When you fire a stinger it leaves a trail of smoke. This finger points skyward following the stingers path. This finger leads directly to where the missile was fired. If there is multiple aircraft you can bet that where the smoke finger points there will be munitions galore launched in that direction. That’s why ideally you have two stinger gunners ready and an alternate position. Newer models have been designed smokeless, which I doubt they will get.

The other drawback is the BCU (battery coolant unit). A hand held missile generates heat and needs power to fire. The BCU provides both. It is filled with compressed argon to 3500 PSI. These batteries are good for one use and tend to leak out argon over time. Stingers can also be susceptible to moisture problems; they come factory heretically sealed. Hundreds of these were left in Afghanistan and NOT used against us for these reasons. The stinger as do all missiles have a limited range, although it’s good it does not chase aircraft until it detonates.

Let’s look at another way the stinger stings.  Economically. Why? A SU-25 Frog foot (their A-10 attack plane) costs 11 million US dollars, the pilot and crew training which hangs 2 million to train. Helicopters, MI-8 (their Blackhawk) is 3.2 million and a KA-52 (their Apache) is 15 million. Crew is about 1 million to train. Interesting enough China was interested in purchasing the KA-52. Interest has cooled since so many have been lost.

Ukrainians have claimed to have shot down 97 airplanes and 115 helicopters. That’s almost 2 billion dollars of lost air assets. Take the crew losses and the time and effort to replace them, you have serious financial losses. I recall estimates back in the 90s that the Soviets lost 25% of their aircraft in Afghanistan. Bringing forth economic bad news in Russia where only a select few control the purse strings could be fatal.      

Keep in mind a stinger costs between 38 -110k to make.

The Ukrainian campaign was planned to last a few days. The loss of aircraft is economically crippling to Russia and unsustainable.

The psychological impact of the stinger cannot be ignored either. When 4 planes go out and 3 come back, it’s extremely demoralizing. When you are in a formation of helicopters and one drops from the sky, can you imagine your lack of enthusiasm to go out the next day? If those helicopters had ground troops on board it severely impacts the ground pounders as well.

Comments, individual veterans or businesses to recognize contact me at 11btwk@gmail.com.