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Babadag Training Area, Romania. (December 27, 2024): It is a weapon that terrorized Russians forces in Afghanistan and is knocking their planes out of the skies over Ukraine today. The weapon is the Stinger, a shoulder-launched heat-seeking antiaircraft missile that continues to devastate Russian armor today. In this photo by Sergeant Austin Steinborn, Specialist Alexis Ortega (left) and Sergeant Blaise Harvilla (right) use a Stinger Field Handling Trainer to track a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter during air defense training. These trainers help gunners learn essential weapon handling skills, sighting and ranging, and how to visually track live aircraft.

In the 1980s, the U.S. covertly provided Stinger missiles to insurgents during the Soviet Afghan War helping clear their skies of Russian aircraft. The weapon had such an effect that it is credited with helping end the Soviet occupation that led to the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union. Today, the Americans and its allies are sending thousands of Stingers to Ukraine to help them do the same.