Raytheon’s Stinger missile replacement will allow the US Army to reach drones farther than ever.

Raytheon will test its first Next-Generation Short-Range Interceptor (NGSRI) before the end of 2025, as the U.S. Army plans a replacement for the FIM-92 Stinger MANPADS missile.

Raytheon will conduct the first integrated flight test of its Next-Generation Short-Range Interceptor before the end of 2025, marking a key step in the U.S. Army’s plan to replace the FIM-92 Stinger surface-to-air missile. The NGSRI is being developed to provide a greater range, improved accuracy, and stronger performance against drones and low-flying aircraft while maintaining compatibility with existing launch systems.
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Raytheon will conduct the first integrated flight test of its Next-Generation Short-Range Interceptor (NGSRI) before the end of 2025, marking a key step in the U.S. Army’s plan to replace the FIM-92 Stinger missile. (Picture source: Raytheon)

The Next-Generation Short-Range Interceptor (NGSRI) program was launched under the U.S. Army’s M-SHORAD Increment 3 activity after competitive prototyping contracts were awarded in March 2023 to Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. The Army’s stated requirements call for an interceptor with improved target acquisition, higher lethality, and greater range than legacy Stinger variants while retaining the Stinger form factor so the new missile can be fired from existing shoulder, tripod, and vehicle launcher configurations. Program timing set operational demonstrations for FY2026, a planned production decision in FY2027, and low-rate initial production in 2028, and the NGSRI development budget for 2025 is approximately $373.7 million under the oversight of the Program Executive Office Missiles and Space.

Raytheon’s prototype previously completed a set of ten subsystem demonstrations that evaluated the seeker, rocket motor, command launch assembly, warhead, and other core functions, including tracking, guidance, aerodynamic control, fuzing, and safety. The program used virtual reality demonstrators and direct soldier evaluations to refine the command launch assembly and launcher ergonomics, producing a lighter, single-piece launcher iteration based on user feedback; those soldier touchpoints also informed training concepts intended to permit broader distributed use of the virtual demonstrator outside specialized facilities. These subsystem and user evaluation activities preceded the planned full-system flight and were presented by Raytheon as the final step before executing integrated flight trials before the year's end.

Propulsion work for the NGSRI interceptor centers on a highly loaded grain solid rocket motor developed with Northrop Grumman that increases burn time and energy output without enlarging the missile’s physical envelope. Tests reported in 2025 included an initial ballistic motor test and subsequent static firings across multiple environments, followed by a ballistic flight demonstration, with Raytheon and Northrop Grumman describing the motor as extending acceleration, velocity, and range relative to conventional motors. Performance targets discussed in the program materials indicate expected acceleration beyond Mach 3 and intercept ranges approaching 9 kilometers, roughly doubling the engagement envelope of legacy Stinger figures cited by program stakeholders, and these figures underpin the requirement to remain compatible with existing launcher dimensions.

The physical form factor, weight, and all-up-round packaging have constrained any replacement proposals, which must preserve the Stinger's dismounted and vehicle-mounted options. Therefore, backward compatibility and producibility are central to Raytheon's approach so the NGSRI can be deployed from Stinger Vehicle Universal Launchers fitted to Stryker A1-based M-SHORAD Sgt. Stout vehicles, as well as in dismounted roles. This compatibility is intended to reduce integration risk and limit new training and logistics burdens while enabling fielding at scale, given that the US Army Stryker acquisition plans could see as many as 361 Sgt. Stout vehicles by fiscal year 2031. Raytheon has also emphasised a modular open-systems architecture, composable design choices, and advanced manufacturing, including automation and reduced assembly touchpoints, to accelerate production and permit iterative updates as threat sets evolve.

The continued operational use and sustainment of the Stinger missile while a successor is developed is included in the program, because Stinger stocks have been drawn down by training use and large transfers, including supply to Ukraine since 2022. Stinger sustainment activity has focused on refurbishment and upgrades rather than new-build production, and allied orders and production arrangements have aimed to replenish inventories; one cited NATO contract in mid-2024 was worth about $780 million for some 940 missiles, and mid-2025 agreements to expand European production capacity were announced to support allied needs while modernization proceeds. The inventory pressures and the growing prevalence of small unmanned aerial systems have been stated drivers for the Army’s push to field a higher-performance short-range interceptor to replace the aging Stinger.

In U.S. service since the early 1980s, the FIM-92 Stinger is an all-up-round, man-portable infrared homing surface-to-air missile measuring roughly 1.52 m long with a 2.75-inch (≈70 mm) body. Issued in a sealed launch canister for shoulder, tripod, and vehicle use, the Stinger's guidance suite centers on an IR seeker and onboard signal-processing electronics, with later variants adopting a reprogrammable microprocessor and seeker upgrades to improve countermeasure rejection and target discrimination. The warhead is a compact blast-fragmentation design of roughly 3 kg optimized for very-short-range engagements, and the missile’s propulsion delivers peak speeds around Mach 2.1 with practical intercept ranges typically within a range of about 6 km and at altitudes below 3 km. In the US Army, the Stinger’s role has been to provide Very Short Range Air Defense (VSHORAD) protection for maneuver units and fixed sites against rotary-wing and fixed-wing aircraft, cruise missiles, and a range of unmanned aerial systems, and it can be mounted in multi-round vehicle launchers such as the Stinger Vehicle Universal Launcher.

The U.S. Army’s current short-range air-defense gap, which explains the urgency of the NGSRI, results from a combination of structural, industrial, and operational factors. Following the end of the Cold War, the Army significantly reduced its SHORAD units and focused on counterinsurgency operations, leading to a two-decade decline in investment in mobile air-defense assets. Large transfers of FIM-92 Stinger missiles to Ukraine and other allies have reduced available stocks, while the missile’s production line, reactivated in 2022, remains limited in capacity and dependent on legacy components. The M-SHORAD program on Stryker vehicles is still in early production phases and will require several years to equip all maneuver brigades. At the same time, low-cost drones, loitering munitions, and low-flying cruise missiles are growing in number and in effective engagement range, exposing the performance limits of existing MANPADS launchers. Therefore, closing that gap requires both replenishing immediate stocks and rapidly deploying interoperable, producible interceptors that can be integrated with existing launcher infrastructure to provide maneuver forces with layered short-range coverage.

Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.