On Tuesday, August 19, 2025, the German company Diehl Defence announced that it had signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with the American company Raytheon (part of RTX Corporation) regarding cooperation in the production of key components for FIM-92 Stinger man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS). This means that in the future, Stinger co-production may take place in Europe as part of the German company’s development plan.
Photo: Diehl Defence
“Stinger is the surface-to-air missile of choice for 24 countries, including Germany and nine other NATO members,” said Tom Laliberty, president of Land & Air Defense Systems at Raytheon. “We are seeing historically high demand for Stinger because of its unrivaled effectiveness and success against a variety of short-range threats.”
The Stinger missile is a battle-proven, lightweight, autonomous air-defense system that infantry soldiers can ready for combat in seconds. With supersonic speed, high maneuverability, and highly precise guidance and control systems, this weapon provides an operational advantage against cruise missiles and aircraft of any class.
“For Diehl Defence, relaunching production for Stinger missiles builds on our proven capabilities and expertise in that product range and fits seamlessly in our strong standing on the market for ground-based air defence systems,” said Helmut Rauch, Diehl Defence CEO.
Diehl Defence is currently analyzing various options for increasing its production capacity, both at existing facilities and potentially at other locations.
Fliegerfaust 2 / Photo: Bundeswehra
In the U.S. Army, where Stingers returned to favor in 2018 and have since been ordered in successive batches, a search for their successor has been underway in parallel since 2020, with the process accelerated in 2022 (also due to large numbers being transferred to warfighting Ukraine). A potential successor could be the NGSRI (Next-Generation Short-Range Interceptor), which, according to RTX on February 18 of this year, successfully completed a series of ten tests (with Lockheed Martin competing for the contract).
Meanwhile, the latest three production contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense for Stinger missiles were signed on September 24 and 25, 2024, with a total value of USD 161.39 million. Most recently, Egypt and Morocco received approvals to purchase the missiles. At the same time, on June 26, 2024, the Budget Committee (Haushaltsausschuss) of the German Bundestag approved funding for the acquisition of 506 FIM-92K Stinger Block I systems to replace the older version of the weapon, locally designated Fliegerfaust 2, 500 sets of which were transferred to warfighting Ukraine.
Earlier, on December 22, 2023, the NATO Support and Procurement Organisation (NSPA) received U.S. State Department approval to purchase, among other items, 940 Stinger Reprogrammable Microprocessor missiles in a package worth up to 780 million USD. It was already reported at the time that the potential recipients of the order would include Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands.
