Man Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS) are commonly used to protect mobile, deployed forces, or defend point targets and strategic sites. Although technically capable to intercept combat aircraft and helicopters, human factors critical limit the use of MANPADS to very short range. At Aero-India 2011 Israel Military Industries (IMI) is introducing the new and improved Red-Sky 2, which converts existing or new MANPADS into an integrated air defense system, centrally controlled and enhanced with passive (FLIR) and active (radar) sensors, and semi-automatic engagement features maximizing the probability of intercept with available assets. Red Sky 2 can be adapted to operate with all types of IR guided missiles – Igla type systems, Mistral or Stinger.
