The U.S. Department of Defense has contracted Lockheed Martin Sippican Inc., a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, to supply fuzes warheads of the Stinger Man-Portable Air Defense System (MANPADS).
The contract award from U.S. Army Contracting Command enables the company to provide M934E6 Stinger fuze/warhead body assemblies and M934E7 Stinger proximity fuze warhead body assemblies.
The deal, which was actually awarded on April 9, 2021, was worth almost $92,4 million and covered work with an estimated completion date of Nov. 30, 2025.
The legacy Stinger missile contains a hit-to-kill fuze which is effective against enemy fixed and rotary wing aircraft. The emergence of low observable Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), increasingly being deployed by adversarial nations and terrorist groups, is a threat to the warfighter and a challenge for the legacy Stinger missile due to the very small UAS size and low heat signature. This can often result in a close miss against a UAS target.
The Stinger M934E7 Proximity Fuzes and Warhead Body Assemblies with Antenna are complex electromechanical assemblies integrated with a Radio Detection and Ranging (RADAR) proximity sensor and conformal antenna into the existing baseline Stinger M934E6 Fuze and Warhead Body Assembly configuration.
The direct replacement of shelf-life expired legacy configuration fuzes and warhead body assemblies with new Proximity configuration fuzes and warhead body assemblies (with antenna) will enhance the missile capability to engage UAS with a Proximity Detonation mode while maintaining the legacy fuzing detonation functions. The Stinger Proximity Fuze and Warhead Body Assembly with Antenna will provide a near miss capability against UAS targets while maintaining all legacy fuze functions against standard Stinger targets.