According to a video released on Youtube on January 7, 2021, during the military parade that was held in Iraq on January 6, 2021, to mark the 100th anniversary of Army Day, the Iraqi army has shown the America-made Avenger short-range air defense missile system mounted on Humvee 4x4 tactical vehicle.
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An Iraqi army AN/TWQ-1 Avenger Air Defense System mounted on Humvee 4x4 tactical vehicle at a military parade in Baghdad, January 6, 2021.(Picture source MOIQ TV footage)
According to the SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) arms trade database, in 2012, United States has sold eight AN/TWQ-1 Avenger Air Defense Systems to Iraq that were delivered in 2013/2014. In 2017, American company Boeing has been awarded a $39.7 million cost-plus-fixed-fee foreign military sales contract to acquire engineering and technical services necessary to support the Avenger missile system of Iraqi armed forces.
The AN/TWQ-1 Avenger consists of a gyro-stabilized air defense turret mounted on a modified heavy Humvee. The turret has two Stinger missile launcher pods, each capable of firing up to 4 fire-and-forget infrared/ultraviolet guided missiles in rapid succession. The air defense vehicle is also armed with a .50 caliber M3P automatic machine gun to cover the missile dead zone and engage ground targets.
The fire control system is highly automated, including the automatic insertion of lead angle and super-elevation at missile launch. The gunner’s station has a head-up CA-562 optical sight. Targets are acquired either by using the optical sight or the Raytheon AN/VLR-1 Avenger FLIR (forward-looking infrared).
The FIM-92 Stinger is a two-stage solid fuel self-homing fire-and-forget missile with infrared guidance. The missile is fitted with a 3 kg HE-FRAG (High Explosive Fragmentation) warhead and has a firing range from 4 to 8 km and a maximum altitude from 3.5 to 3.8 km.
