Blowpipe (missile)
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The Shorts Blowpipe is a man-portable (MANPADS) surface-to-air missile that was in use with the British Army and Royal Marines from 1975 to 1985. It also saw service in other military forces around the world. Most examples were retired by the mid-1990s. It is unique among MANPADS in that it is manually guided to its target with a small joystick, sending guidance corrections to the missile over a radio control link.
A Canadian missile detachment of 129th Airfield Air Defence Battery, RCA, with Blowpipe during NATO Exercise Cornet Phaser in 1987. The soldiers are wearing Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) protective gear.
From the side, the difference in tube diameter at the front and rear is obvious.
Man-portable air-defense system
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Man-portable air-defense systems are portable surface-to-air missiles. They are guided weapons and are a threat to low-flying aircraft, especially helicopters.
A Soviet 9K32 Strela-2 in use.
An FIM-43C Redeye missile just after launch, before the sustainer motor ignites
An SA-18 (Igla) missile with launch tube and gripstock (top) and an SA-16 (Igla-1) missile and launch tube (bottom)
Japanese airmen aiming a Type 91 Kai MANPADS at a mock airborne target in the Pacific Alaskan Range Complex as part of Red Flag – Alaska in 2008.