The shoulder-fired missiles are effective only against low-flying aircraft and at a range of a few kilometres. But they have scored a number of kills and are severely impeding Russian air operations
. Now Ukrainian forces are getting an upgrade, in the form of the latest STARStreak missiles supplied by Britain. Why are MANPADS crucial to Ukraine’s defence, and what difference might the new missiles make?
Originating in the 1950s, MANPADS use infra-red seekers to home in on the hot exhaust pipes of jet engines. This is why aircraft and helicopters fire out fans of decoy flares, to distract such missiles with brighter and more attractive heat sources. Early MANPADS could only lock on to an aircraft from behind. These include the Soviet-era Strela which Germany is supplying to Ukraine from old East German stocks.
in Afghanistan in their fight against the Soviet Union. Their reports of a 79% success rate may have been intended to convince their American backers to keep supplying the weapons. The reality may have been more like 20%. STARStreak’s makers call it a “high-velocity missile” to draw attention to its speed of more than Mach 3, which makes it much harder to evade. And rather than Stinger’s single warhead, STARStreak releases three tungsten darts, each weighing 900 grams. These spread out and fly in formation, all following the laser guidance, increasing the chance of a hit. The darts can pierce helicopter armour and explode after penetration, causing far more damage than a surface explosion.
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