Profile
- Type
- Man-portable air-defense system
- Conflict side
- Islamic State Sinai Province
- Origin
- Multiple countries
- Service note
- First fielded in the 1960s; still present in state inventories and illicit non-state arsenals
Air Defense
MANPADS
MANPADS are shoulder-fired or small-team portable surface-to-air missile systems used for very-short-range defense against low-flying aircraft and helicopters. In the Sinai Insurgency archive, the generic entry is used only where direct sources document militant MANPADS or shoulder-fired SAM use but do not identify a specific Strela, Igla, Stinger, or other model with enough confidence.
- Conflict side
- Islamic State Sinai Province
- Built by
- Multiple manufacturers
- Built in
- Multiple countries
Service History
- In service
- Portable surface-to-air missile families have been fielded by state forces since the 1960s and have also proliferated to non-state armed groups.
- Used by
- Islamic State Sinai Province / Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis
- Wars
- Sinai Insurgency
Production History
- Designer
- Multiple design bureaus and defense manufacturers
- Designed
- 1950s-1960s development era for early systems
- Built by
- Multiple manufacturers
- Built in
- Multiple countries
- Unit cost
- Varies widely by model, age, launcher package, and illicit or state-market context
- Produced
- 1960s-present across multiple MANPADS families
- Number built
- Arms Control Association cites an estimated one million MANPADS manufactured for national stockpiles or export.
- Variants
- Infrared seeker MANPADS, Command line-of-sight MANPADS, Laser beam-riding MANPADS, Vehicle or tripod-adapted very-short-range air-defense launchers
Specifications
- Crew
- One soldier or a small team, depending on model and launch configuration
- Armament
- Single short-range surface-to-air missile in a portable launch tube or launcher assembly
- Guidance types
- Infrared homing, command line-of-sight, or laser beam-riding guidance
- Typical engagement range
- Average systems can reach targets at about 3.2 miles; exact range varies by model
- Altitude threat
- FAA notes some MANPADS present a risk up to 25,000 ft above ground level
- Targets
- Low-flying aircraft, helicopters, UAVs, and other low-altitude air targets
Conflict Usage
- Sinai Insurgency
- Side: Islamic State Sinai ProvinceRole: Low-altitude air-defense ambush
FAA flight-risk reporting says ISIS-Sinai used MANPADS to shoot down an Egyptian military helicopter flying at low altitude in January 2014; FDD's Long War Journal described Ansar Jerusalem video of a shoulder-fired SAM striking the helicopter, but the publicly cited sources do not identify the exact missile model.
MANPADS Images
Related Weapon Systems
Sources
MANPADS at a GlancePublisher: Arms Control Association | Note: Supports general MANPADS background, common guidance categories, early U.S. and Soviet deployment history, estimated production scale, average range, and proliferation context. | Accessed: 2026-06-22FAA Egypt Sinai Background Notice 2021Publisher: Federal Aviation Administration | Note: Sinai Insurgency: MANPADS were used by ISIS-Sinai to shoot down an Egyptian military helicopter flying at low altitude, and the notice identifies MANPADS as an ongoing anti-aircraft threat in the Sinai. | Accessed: 2026-06-22Ansar Jerusalem claims SAM attack as 3 soldiers killed in Sinai bus ambushPublisher: FDD's Long War Journal | Note: Sinai Insurgency: a shoulder-fired SAM was fired by Ansar Jerusalem / Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis in North Sinai and shown striking an Egyptian military helicopter. | Accessed: 2026-06-22Islamic State Sinai Province (IS-Sinai)Publisher: Australian National Security | Note: Supports background on Islamic State Sinai Province aliases, including Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis and Ansar Jerusalem, used to connect older Sinai reporting to the conflict side label. | Accessed: 2026-06-22Stinger Missile Team.JPEGPublisher: Wikimedia Commons | Note: Supports image provenance for the public-domain representative MANPADS team image used as the primary image. | Accessed: 2026-06-22Strela-2 MANPADS -01.jpgPublisher: Wikimedia Commons | Note: Supports image provenance for the CC BY-SA 4.0 Strela-2 MANPADS museum photograph used in the gallery. | Accessed: 2026-06-22IGLA-S MANPADS at IDELF-2008.jpgPublisher: Wikimedia Commons | Note: Supports image provenance for the CC BY-SA 4.0 Igla-S MANPADS photograph used in the gallery. | Accessed: 2026-06-22