U.S. Retirees Called In To Make Stinger Missiles in Boost for Ukraine

Retired engineers are being called up to help make Stinger missiles thought to be crucial to Ukraine's fight against Russian aggression, it has been reported.

The U.S. has dispatched to Ukraine nearly 2,000 of the heat-seeking man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS) made by Raytheon, which have proved effective in shooting down Russian aircraft. This week, the Biden administration said that it would send Kyiv even more.

The FIM-92 Stinger helps troops—without immediate air support—target an enemy aircraft. It was first produced in 1978 and has been upgraded many times.

Using 3D printing and automation is not possible in manufacturing the Stinger because that would mean redesigning the weapon and a lengthy weapons certification process.

"You'd have to redesign the entire seeker in order to automate it," Wes Kremer, the president of Raytheon, a business of Raytheon Technologies Corporation that specializes in integrated air and missile defenses, told Defense One.

So the weapons must be made the same way they were four decades ago. "We were bringing back retired employees that are in their 70s," he told the outlet, stating that they were using decades-old blueprints.

"We're pulling test equipment out of warehouses and blowing the spider webs off of them," he said. The company was also redesigning some of the weapons' componentry because the electronics used in the missile were obsolete. Newsweek has contacted Raytheon for further comment.

Military analyst Allan Orr told Newsweek that for Ukraine, "the Stingers have for all intents and purposes run out, Russia now knows this."

He said that this has hampered Ukraine's counteroffensive because without air cover, Ukraine's forces "can't run the gauntlet of Russian mines and artillery."

"Without Stingers they are even worse off and find themselves sitting ducks to Russian attack helicopters at stand-off distances," he said.

"The Stingers were not pivotal to the first defense effort like the Javelin, but they are, without doubt, now pivotal to the offensive," he said.

"The Stingers are how the Ukrainians hold the high-ground low-key with low-tech, and we are seeing the results of ceding the heights all along the front right now," Orr added.

The announcement of the U.S. supplying Stingers to Ukraine comes amid a new Reuters/Ipsos survey which shows nearly two-thirds of Americans support giving Kyiv weapons for their fight against Russia.

The poll was conducted on June 26 and June 27, after the mutiny by Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin against the Russian military leadership. The survey with a margin of error of 3.8 percent found that 65 percent of the 1,004 adult respondents backed American military support.

Fewer Republicans (56 percent) backed the U.S. support compared with Democrats (85 percent) in the poll which also showed that 57 percent of Americans are following the conflict somewhat closely and 61 percent say they worry about the Ukrainian people.

"It's too early to tell if the short-lived Wagner revolt against the Russian government is going to impact American public opinion or the pre-existing majority American support for Ukraine," said Clifford Young, president of public affairs at Ipsos in a statement to Newsweek. "However, given the durability of American attitudes on the topic, it is unlikely we are going to see significant shifts."