DVIDS:
The sound of stinger missile rounds cracked though the air like strikes of lightning as Marines with 2nd Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion honed their surface-to-air defense skills, here, Sept. 24.
Alpha battery Marines fine-tuned their tactical proficiency skills with the FIM-92 Stinger Missile. The weapon is a personal and portable, infrared, homing, surface-to-air missile capable of tracking and engaging aircraft up-to an altitude of 10,000 feet and can cover distances up-to eight kilometers.
“This training simulates the stinger weapons system by taking the approximately 34.2 pound missile and launching the aluminum sleeve out of it,” said Staff Sgt. Kristopher Lucas, a platoon sergeant with Alpha Company, 2nd LAAD Battalion. “The process replicates that transition of the weight off the gunners shoulder. Gunners need to be prepared for the extreme weight difference experienced once the weapon is detonated.”
More than 20 Marines took turns walking up to the firing line and firing the weapons system at a designated target down range…
