Man-portable air-defense system

A man-portable air-defense system is a shoulder-fired or otherwise portable surface-to-air weapon designed for one person or a small team to use against low-flying aircraft.

Infrared homing: A guidance method that steers a missile toward infrared radiation emitted by a target. Many systems use heat-seeking guidance to track an aircraft’s engine or exhaust.
Surface-to-air missile: A missile launched from the ground or sea to intercept an aircraft or other airborne target. Man-portable systems are the smallest, most mobile members of this weapon family.
Low-altitude air defense: Air defense focused on aircraft and weapons flying close to the ground. These missiles are designed to threaten targets that evade higher-altitude defenses.
FIM-92 Stinger: A United States man-portable infrared-guided surface-to-air missile system. Its use in Afghanistan during the 1980s became a prominent example of battlefield impact.
Soviet–Afghan War: The 1979–1989 conflict between the Soviet Union and the Afghan government it supported against Afghan resistance groups. Stinger deliveries to Afghan fighters became a defining episode in the conflict.
Command line-of-sight guidance: A missile guidance method in which an operator tracks the target and sends steering commands to the missile. Some systems use operator-directed guidance rather than autonomous infrared homing.
Air defense: Measures used to detect, identify, track, and defeat attacks from the air. Portable missiles are one layer within a larger network of air-defense measures.
Helicopter: A rotorcraft whose powered rotors provide lift and allow hovering and vertical flight. Helicopters operating near the battlefield are among the aircraft these systems can threaten.
9K32 Strela-2: A Soviet-designed, infrared-guided man-portable surface-to-air missile system known to NATO as the SA-7 Grail. Its broad export and use made it one of the most widely encountered early systems.
Operation Cyclone: A United States covert program that supported Afghan resistance forces during the Soviet–Afghan War. The program included support connected to the provision of Stinger missiles.

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