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Comment by H8crilA | Hacker News Reader

Just import the PPZR Piorun instead. It is much more modern and more effective than the Stinger, for example with much better flare evasion. Stinger is from the 70s.

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The problem with scaling up manufacturing is that the US needs to manufacture here, now. What good is importing a polish missile when Wagner is so close to the factory that they can almost make it out if they squint? It’s not like Poland has a history of getting invaded or anything, right? Why could we possibly want to continue outsourcing our production to try to fix the problem that outsourcing production caused?

Sorry, I meant do technology transfer. Obviously manufacturing must be (also, or even primarily) in the US.

a technology transfer is only slightly lower risk than restarting production on an old design. You have about half of the issues - because I can all but guarantee - no matter how good the polish missile is, and no matter how modern their production methodology is, we're gonna probably need to build it differently here than it would be built in Poland.

A good example is when the US started making Merlin Engines during WWII, it amounted to a near redesign.

Well for one when you have a stockpile you don't need more production. Secondly when the first, second, and fourth biggest air forces in the world team up against a country that can't even suppress one of the smallest you don't need MANPADS if you're on their side.

As pretty much all of Europe has learned, stockpiles go quick.

The terminal guidance package on a modern Stinger is significantly more sophisticated than the Piorun, which uses a terminal guidance technology more in common with older Stinger variants.

Modern Stingers use the same guidance package as the AIM-9X Sidewinder and have a dual mode IR/UV imager that is largely impervious to flares. There isn't anything more sophisticated on the market.

Stinger RMP-Block II which was to use the Sidewinder seeker was cancelled before any units were produced.

The Stinger's one part of a larger ecosystem, though.

For example, they throw them on Humvees for a cheap, portable air defense system: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AN/TWQ-1_Avenger

Pioruns probably aren't interchangable in these.

No, but Pioruns are also attached to cars and lightly armored vehicles. It's not that difficult to do :)

The real answer is that the Stinger needs a long overdue modernisation.

The real issue is politics and lobbying. It's extremely rare that the US would adopt foreign designs vs designing and building in-house. After all, we want to be the ones selling to the rest of the world.

We also want the expertise to design and build in house in case politics change and we are no longer friends with whoever is making it

It seems a join venture it would work well. US needs a backup factory in case of natural disaster, Poland in case of a war.

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