I mean, if you do make a stinger with the capabilities of a (like Le Enfield's Example, The Sea Wolf missile) Then it would be bigger, and faster, and have to be launched from a different launch assembly, not shoulder mounted.Woundn't it?

Originally Posted by Sukio

I mean, if you do make a stinger with the capabilities of a (like Le Enfield's Example, The Sea Wolf missile) Then it would be bigger, and faster, and have to be launched from a different launch assembly, not shoulder mounted.Woundn't it?

I would assume, that it would be some sort of assembly like the Avenger system. The Avenger is already capable of shooting down missiles. Is it capable of intercepting, Sunburn Missiles?

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/avenger.htm

The Avenger Pedestal Mounted Stinger system is a lightweight, mobile and transportable surface-to-air missile and gun weapon system, mounted on a Heavy High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV). Avenger is designed to counter hostile cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, and low-flying, high-speed, fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters attacking or transiting friendly airspace. The Avenger, manufactured by Boeing in Huntsville, is a shoot-on-the-move, totally automated, day-and-night capable short-range air defense system. A key element of the Army’s Forward Area Air Defense System, Avenger was deployed during Operation Desert Storm and in currently deployed in the Balkans.

Originally Posted by Rossiman

I would assume, that it would be some sort of assembly like the Avenger system. The Avenger is already capable of shooting down missiles. Is it capable of intercepting, Sunburn Missiles?

I don't know , but think about it if a fastmover did pop off a Sunburn, at a considerable range, tavelin at mach 2.0, then it would give you precious little time to track, launch and hit a target. And it you miss on this, then you have no second chance. If the stinger was capable shooting down bombs, then tracking and killing rocket propelled weapons would be no problem, and I could almost garuntee them being mounted on high value targets like for say, and aircraft carrier.

But until then, we need more advanced tracking devices. And also, the use of directed engery weapons may be more realistic now.

Originally Posted by Sukio

I mean, if you do make a stinger with the capabilities of a (like Le Enfield's Example, The Sea Wolf missile) Then it would be bigger, and faster, and have to be launched from a different launch assembly, not shoulder mounted.Woundn't it?

If you're thinking of engaging bombs or missiles and especially supersonic missiles, it will have to be a fully automatic platform. Human reaction times are much too slow to pick up and launch a shoulder mounted missile at an incoming enemy missile. That's why the US Navy developed the Aegis system, designed to automatically destroy incoming missiles and aircraft. The human reaction time just to click the "fire" button was too slow for engaging enemy missiles.

And speaking of the Navy, we currently use the Rolling Airframe Missile as a replacement/supplement to the vaunted Phalanx anti-missile system. The RAM is based on the Sidewinder's warhead and motor and uses a modified Stinger seeker. It is specifically designed to counter very evasive, very fast missiles such as the Sunburn and is even more effective than the Phalanx (which has problems tracking wildly evasive missiles). I think that answers the high value defense system you were thinking of, Sukio.

The next step, as you said, would be directed energy weapons. Lasers are already used at bomb ranges to detonate unexploded ordinance, and I think the Air Force put a laser on a Boeing plane as an experimental anti-ICBM weapon. I think it's only a matter of time until we get lasers on our ships and maybe on land to shoot down enemy missiles.

That does make since, kinda cool acutally.8)