[smokingfrog]

I thought it might be a training device. Something about it didn’t look right. Pretty old school stuff alright. Redeye had a hard time hitting the fast movers, didn’t it?

[The KG9 Kid]

"Pretty old school stuff alright... Redeye had a hard time hitting the fast movers, didn’t it?"

My opinion is that all man-portable air defense systems sort of suck, some more/some less, depending.

I don't know if the FIM-43 Redeye was ever used in combat, but I don't think that they were ever needed by US troops in Vietnam. If they ever were used by US troops in combat, I can only think that Lebanon or Grenada would have been the places where a Redeye might have been used before these were taken out of service.

I don't know what any non-US state (which might have acquired any) thought about them in practice, or if they ever fulfilled their role in downing an enemy aircraft.

Only thing I know about MANPADS are that they're very limited in their opportunity to down an aircraft. Fast fighter jets can be out of danger before you can get a lock-on. They can be effective vs. helicopters, but trying to down a enormous jumbo jet with one probably isn't going to do critical damage to such a large aircraft.

Of course, I guess it's all about luck. When I was 9 years old, I hit and killed an airborne horsefly firing a Daisy BB gun from about 25 feet from the hip. My grandmother was even witness to this amazing feat, but she's been gone since 1979 so you're going to have to take my word that this happened.

[archy]

I thought it might be a training device. Something about it didn’t look right. Pretty old school stuff alright. Redeye had a hard time hitting the fast movers, didn’t it?

Like its contemporary the 9K32M Strela-2M, aka SAM-2 to NATO, the Redeye was a tailchase heat-seeker, and was NOT *fire-and-forget*- the gunner had to continue the track until impact, a considerable disadvantage when dealing with hostile CAS aircraft or attack helos.

There's something about that launch unit that looks un-Redeye-ish to my old eyes, but it's been 40-years plus since I've had one on my shoulder. It may be one of the *block III launch units, which were different. But I bet Squantos knows.

FIM-43_Redeye
Comparison chart

System	9K32M Strela-2M (missile: 9M32M)	9K34 Strela-3 (missile: 9M36)	FIM-43C Redeye
Service entry	1968	1974	1968
Weight of system ready to shoot	15 kg	16 kg	13.3 kg
Missile weight	9.8 kg	10.3 kg	8.3 kg
Length	1.44 m	1.47 m	1.40 m
Warhead weight	1.17 kg	1.17 kg	1.06 kg
Warhead type	Directed-energy blast fragmentation	Directed-energy blast fragmentation	Blast fragmentation (M222)
Warhead explosive content	0.37 kg HMX	0.37 kg HMX and 20g secondary charge [4]	0.36 kg HTA-3
Missile engagement aspect	Tail-chase only	Limited forward hemisphere (all-aspect) capability	Tail-chase / limited forward-hemisphere (depending on conditions and version)
Seeker type	Uncooled PbS detector element (1–2.8 µm sensitivity range).	Nitrogen-cooled PbS detector element (2–4.3 µm sensitivity range).	Gas-cooled (FIM-43A: Peltier cooled) PbS detector element
Seeker modulation	AM-modulated (spin scan)	FM-modulated (conical scan)	AM-modulated
Maximum range	4,200 m	4,100 m	4,500 m
Missile speed	500 m/s	450 m/s	580 m/s
Maximum speed target speed	260 m/s (receding)	310 m/s (receding)	225 m/s
Engagement altitude	0.05-2.3 km	0.03-2.3 ... 3.0 km	0.05-2.7 km