The Russian air defence forces have naturally been the
inspiration for building up a strong air defence. During the Cold
War the overlapping umbrella of numerous SAM and even gun systems
for all approaches into the Soviet Union and most of the Warsaw
Pact nations was very much feared by the Western military, albeit
it took a while to believe that one could probably have daringly
infiltrated via small and light wooden piston-engined,
single-seater airframes.
Nonetheless, Russian missile technology in the SAM department is
revered to be even more advanced and cheaper than the latest that
the West can offer. Which I believe to be the fundamental case for
choosing the Igla against the others, like US Stinger, UK
Blowpipe/Starstreak, or even continuing with the costly Mistral,
which isn't a pure MANPADs to start with. True, the Igla's
targeting device may look crude, but it's still cheap and
comparably effective. And that's what one would expect from a
MANPADs that is meant to be shoulder-fired - easy to use.
