The US company Raytheon has asked its retirees to teach current employees how to assemble Stinger man-portable air defence systems, as they have long been out of production.
It is noted that the Stinger man-portable air defence system significantly contributes to countering the Armed Forces of Ukraine in a full-scale Russian aggression, but these missiles were phased out of production in the United States several decades ago.
“The Stinger has been out of production for 20 years, and suddenly in the first 48 hours of the war, it became the star of the show, and everyone wants more,” said Wes Kramer, president of Raytheon’s RTX division.
In this regard, Raytheon asked its retired engineers to return to teach current employees how to assemble Stinger missiles using blueprints drawn up during the administration of US President Jimmy Carter.
“We’ve been bringing back retired employees who are in their 70s … to teach our new employees how to actually build a Stinger,” said Kremer. – “We’re pulling test equipment out of the warehouses and taking the cobwebs off of it.
According to RTX CEO Greg Hayes, the electronics used in the Stinger are outdated.
“We redesign boards, we redesign some components. It just takes a lot of time,” Hayes said.
In general, Raytheon employees have to build the Stinger the same way they did 40 years ago, including installing the missile’s nose fairing by hand.
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