U.S. Marines sink boat with Stinger MANPADS

23 October, 2024 Launch of a Stinger MANPADS missile by US Marines. Photo credits: USMC The US Marines sank a boat with a Stinger man-portable air defense system during exercises in the Philippines.

Stripes reported on this. Marine Corporal Celestino Arellano from Austin, Texas, destroyed the boat during a missile training exercise in the Philippines. According to him, he managed to seize a canoe-sized boat with a Stinger MANPADS and launch a missile that successfully hit the target.

Marine Corporal Celestino Arellano after the destruction of the boat.

Photo credits: USMC

It was his first time firing a Stinger man-portable air defense system. Prior to that, he trained for three years at Camp Pendleton, California. The Marine was a member of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, conducting joint Philippine-American exercises to defend the coastline against amphibious landings.

The Stinger air defense system is designed to engage air targets at ranges of no more than 5 km and is equipped with an infrared homing head. Destruction of ground targets with the Stinger is not a priority, but the possibility of its use against ground targets has been realized.

A Ukrainian soldier with a Stinger MANPAD in the Kherson region, May 2022

In addition to the Stinger, MBDA France also demonstrated the ability to destroy ground targets. In one of its promotional videos, the company demonstrated the ability to target and destroy a moving surface target, such as a boat, with a Mistral missile from a SIMBAD-RC ship launcher.

The SIMBAD-RC is an anti-aircraft combat module equipped with two Mistral short-range missiles designed to be mounted on boats to protect against air threats.

The system launches the missiles using a thermal and optical channel, which allows it to effectively detect and engage the missiles' GNSS targets.