Latvia purchases American Stinger anti-aircraft systems
The Latvian military has purchased American Stinger man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS), as announced by Latvian Defense Minister Raimonds Bergmanis in an LTV broadcast, as reported by LETA.
The head of the defense ministry did not specify the numbers that the deal would involve, saying only that “the amount paid was not too large, but for it we are receiving a solid number of weapons”.
The MANPADS were bought from the Danish Defense and will be transferred by the end of this year or the start of 2018. According to the Pentagon Office for Military-Technical Cooperation, Denmark has acquired a total of 1140 Stinger MANPADS since 1996.
At present the Armed Forces of Latvia use Swedish RBS 70 MANPADS. The first versions of this system were bought in 2004, and in 2016 there was an announcement regarding the upcoming purchase of modernized RBS 70 NG models.
FIM-92 Stinger MANPADS were adopted into the US armament in 1981. Originally they were equipped with an infrared homing device, but since 1983 they have been fitted with dual-band homing devices (infrared and ultraviolet).