{"id":78011,"date":"2025-04-17T11:35:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T06:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=78011"},"modified":"2026-04-17T11:53:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T06:23:27","slug":"man-portable-air-defence-systems-manpads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/man-portable-air-defence-systems-manpads\/","title":{"rendered":"Man-Portable Air Defence Systems (MANPADS)"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Man-Portable Air Defence Systems (MANPADS) Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Indian Army is undertaking a major strategic shift in its air defence operations, repurposing its Man-Portable Air Defence Systems (MANPADS) to specifically counter the rising threat of sub-sonic cruise missiles. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Man-Portable Air Defence Systems (MANPADS)<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">MANPADS are <\/span><b>surface-to-air missiles<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that can be <\/span><b>fired by an individual or a small team <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of people <\/span><b>against aircraft.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These weapon systems often are described as <\/span><b>shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">MANPADS are generally less than 2 metres in length and weigh around 20 kg.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>United States and the Soviet Union first deployed MANPADS, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the Redeye and Strela systems, respectively, in the <\/span><b>1960s <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to provide their infantries with portable anti-aircraft weapons.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The militaries of about <\/span><b>105 countries across the world operate MANPADS,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> although only <\/span><b>12 countries, including India, produce them.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>most famous<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> MANPADS system are the <\/span><b>US-made \u2018Stinger\u2019<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and the <\/span><b>Soviet 9K32 Strela-2, or simply \u2018SA-7&#8242; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">with the <\/span><b>China-made \u2018FN-16\u2019<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> being the latest entrant.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Three general types <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of MANPADS exist: <\/span><b>command line of sight, laser guided, and infrared seekers.<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Command line-of-sight MANPADS are <\/span><b>guided <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to their targets through the use of a <\/span><b>remote control.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Laser-guided<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or laser beam rider MANPADS <\/span><b>follow a laser projected onto the target.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>most common<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> MANPADS, frequently called <\/span><b>heat seeking missiles<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, however, are <\/span><b>infrared seekers <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that <\/span><b>acquire their target by detecting the heat<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of an aircraft\u2019s engine.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most MANPADS consist of:\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a missile packaged in a tube;\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a launching mechanism (commonly known as a \u201cgripstock\u201d); and\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a battery<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Man-Portable Air Defence Systems Historical Background<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li data-section-id=\"l47yoy\" data-start=\"49\" data-end=\"238\">Developed during the 1960s amid the Cold War by the <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">United States<\/span><\/span> and the <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Soviet Union<\/span><\/span> to provide portable air defense to ground forces.<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1ecqkgu\" data-start=\"239\" data-end=\"387\">The U.S. introduced the early <strong data-start=\"271\" data-end=\"288\">Redeye system<\/strong>, while the Soviet Union deployed the <strong data-start=\"326\" data-end=\"343\">Strela series<\/strong>, marking the first generation of MANPADS.<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"15be3pe\" data-start=\"388\" data-end=\"542\">Designed to counter <strong data-start=\"410\" data-end=\"449\">low-flying aircraft and helicopters<\/strong>, especially in battlefield conditions where larger air defense systems were not practical.<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1vwb22u\" data-start=\"543\" data-end=\"651\">Rapid technological improvements led to better <strong data-start=\"592\" data-end=\"638\">target tracking, accuracy, and ease of use<\/strong> over time.<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"prxcx8\" data-start=\"652\" data-end=\"759\">Widely proliferated during late 20th century conflicts, making them a common feature in modern warfare.<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"vj52cp\" data-start=\"760\" data-end=\"924\">Today, about <strong data-start=\"775\" data-end=\"792\">105 countries<\/strong> operate MANPADS, but only a limited number, including <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">India, <\/span><\/span>have indigenous production capability.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/defence.in\/threads\/indian-army-recalibrates-manpads-roles-to-strengthen-defence-against-low-flying-cruise-missile-threats.16246\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">DEF<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Man-Portable Air Defence Systems (MANPADS) are surface-to-air missiles that can be fired by an individual or a small team of people against aircraft. Read more about Man-Portable Air Defence Systems (MANPADS), Features, Latest News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":77990,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4211,21,22,23],"class_list":{"0":"post-78011","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"tag-man-portable-air-defence-systems-manpads","9":"tag-prelims-pointers","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78011"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98737,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78011\/revisions\/98737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}