82nd Airborne Paratroopers Are Getting A Major Boost In Firepower

If dropped separately operater and stinger would be separated and then the stinger would have to be located. Conceivably could be used against soft ground targets. The stinger warhead not designed to penetrate armor.

MCPO Roger Collins The seeker is looking for aircraft specific heat signature but it might track armor or other large vehicles with some tweaking by the manufacturer. As CW5 Jack Cardwell said, the warhead won't penetrate armor. It uses an impact or proximity fuzing system but is made to fragment and tear up a thin skin aircraft. A surface to surface model could be madebut with the Javalin and AT4 the role is pretty well covered.

The stinger doesn't have the payload to do much against armor. It relies on physics to allow the minor damage the missile causes to tear an aircraft apart.

As for dropping the launcher independant of a paratrooper- imagine a battalion mass tactical jump- darkness, 500 paratroopers dropped in waves (very low) above the drop zone. It is barely controlled chaos, and difficult to organize units and equipment in the best conditions.
Were the missile to be dropped independent of its 'trooper, when? Before? How you going to synchronize landing spots to within a reasonable distance? How's the trooper gonna find it? After? A trooper gonna wait on the drop zone as missile launchers burn in on him? It might work if you added a bunch of missiles to a trailer, hmmwv or similar and performed a heavy drop before the jump. Just hope joe doesn't slam into that heap perched so proudly on the DZ.