U.S. paratroopers with the Italy-based 173rd Airborne Brigade have recently live-fired the FIM-92 Stinger man-portable air-defense system for the first time on April 9.
The missiles were shot as part of Exercise Shell 22 in Croatia, Croatian sources said.
Soldiers from 1st and 2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, based in Vicenza, Italy, fired a dozen of the surface-to-air missiles in two-man squads.
Each missile costs about $38,000. The 173rd Airborne Brigade has only previously fired replica Stinger rounds, Stars and Stripes reported.
Each squad was comprised of a team chief and a gunner. The soldiers fired the missiles toward a small target with a flare, brigade spokesperson Capt. Rob Haake told Stripes. The missiles landed in the Adriatic Sea, he said.
Exercise Shell 22, which was held alongside Croatian forces, also marked the first time the Croatian Air Defense Regiment had conducted a live-fire exercise with U.S. troops.
Also included in the exercise were training events involving airspace control, deconfliction and surveillance.
Stingers have been in the spotlight lately.
The U.S. and its allies have been sending Stingers and other shoulder-fired anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons to Ukrainians fighting off the Russian invasion.
Haake told Stripes that around 300 troops from the 173rd Airborne Brigade are currently deployed in Latvia in response to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
The 173rd Airborne Brigade is the U.S. Army’s contingency response force in Europe, meaning it provides rapidly deployable paratroopers to combatant commanders in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
This event in Croatia happened against the background of the delivery of a sophisticated Chinese anti-aircraft system in a veiled operation to Serbia a few days ago.
Media and military experts have said that six Chinese Air Force Y-20 transport planes landed at Belgrade’s civilian airport last weekend, carrying HQ-22 surface-to-air missile systems for the Serbian military.
Western European countries have reportedly expressed concerns that an arms build-up in the Balkans at the time of the war in Ukraine could threaten the fragile peace in the region. /Argumentum.al
