US Army Evaluating Raytheon’s Stinger, Stryker Pairing

The US Army is reportedly evaluating Raytheon’s integration of a Stinger air defense system mounted onto a Stryker armored fighting vehicle.

The integration was in response to the US Army’s urgent need for mobile air defense for ground troops, the company said in a statement Tuesday.

The Stinger system was mounted into the vehicles’ Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station (CROWS) and successfully intercepted airborne targets last month, the company said.

"With so many airborne threats in the battlespace, our ground forces need the protection of additional mobile air defense systems," Kim Ernzen, Raytheon Land Warfare Systems vice president, said in a press release. "Combining these two proven systems gives the Army an immediate, low-risk, high-value solution."

The Stinger missile is an infrared homing surface-to-air missie that is manportable. It weighs about 33.5 pounds, has an effective range of about five miles and a 6.6 pound warhead.