Raytheon has announced a renewed effort to produce Stinger missiles for European customers, collaborating with German defense firm Diehl and various Dutch suppliers. This development signals a significant shift for the shoulder-fired weapon, which had been largely absent from US military procurement for nearly twenty years.
The company manufactured its final new Stinger unit for the US Army in 2002. By 2022, the Pentagon had not placed an order for the missile in approximately two decades, maintaining only a limited production line to serve a single international client. The landscape changed dramatically following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In the initial two months of the conflict, the United States delivered roughly 1,400 Stinger systems to Kyiv. Subsequent transfers have exceeded 3,000 units, with the weapon demonstrating effectiveness against Russian helicopters and low-altitude aircraft.
On May 27, 2022, the US Army awarded Raytheon a $624 million contract to produce 1,300 replacement missiles. This funding came from the Ukraine Supplemental and represented the first Stinger order from the Army since the early 2000s. Restarting the manufacturing process presented substantial challenges.
Many electronic components from the 1970s era of the missile were no longer commercially available, requiring Raytheon to redesign circuit cards and seeker components. To bridge the knowledge gap, the company recalled retired employees, some in their seventies, to train a new workforce. Decades-old test equipment was also retrieved from storage.
When the 2022 contract was signed, the Pentagon did not anticipate deliveries until 2026. The production restart occurs as the Stinger’s potential successor takes shape. Raytheon and Lockheed Martin are currently competing for the US Army’s Next-Generation Short-Range Interceptor program. Lockheed Martin conducted the first flight test of its candidate system on January 13, 2026.