FIM-92 Stinger

The General Dynamics FIM-92 'Stinger' is a man-portable, infra-red, homing SAM (Surface-to-Air Missile) featured in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
It appears only in Campaign Mode, and its appearances are few and far between. It first appears in the level Hunted to destroy the pursuing Mi-8. It also appears in several hidden weapons caches in All Ghillied Up, but using it tips everyone to the player's position and is very detrimental to the mission. It is found in two places. The first one is the church before the helicopter passes over. You can use the Stinger to take it down if you feel like it. The first shot will usually miss and you must run into the church to get another stinger missile. Go outside again and avoid the helicopter's fire. When you get a good spot, lock on it and shoot. The second time will usually work. The second place is the building the sniper is on after the convention. After you kill the sniper, run up the fire escape to where he came out from. Climb into the room he spawned in and there will be Stinger missiles in there. You can use it to shoot the nearby helicopter hovering over the enemy soldiers. When you shoot it though, hurry and get back to MacMillian. Stay in the room on the second floor and keep watch on the window. It helps a lot if you have the unlimited ammo cheat. In All Ghillied Up, it is possible to fire this weapon at the BMP in the convoy you have to sneak past. Take the Stingers in the church and target it at the BMP like you would a helicopter. It may or may not take out the BMP along with any nearby troops. It is less simple to use than a Javelin as the target must be located by sight not an electronic screen that locates the target. Also, unlike the Javelin, each Stinger has a one-time use. You need to pick up another Stinger in order to continue firing.

Using the "give all" console command on Game Over will give the player a strange Stinger which looks like an AT4, and is unusable.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
The Stinger returns in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for the same purpose as the first game. In the campaign, it is used in the mission Wolverines! to shoot down enemy Helicopters. It can also be found in The Only Easy Day...Was Yesterday and can be used to destroy an enemy Helicopter.

Multiplayer
The Stinger is available in multiplayer as a secondary weapon, unlocked at level 30. It can lock onto killstreak vehicles and comes with two missiles. The drawback is that it cannot be fired without a lock-on and thus can not be fired at infantry.

Tactics
It is the best launcher for taking down enemy air support due to having the best tracking system, the fastest missile speed, being a one hit kill on impact, and having the most starting ammunition of any lock-on launcher. It takes one missile to bring down UAVs, Attack Helicopters, and Harriers. Pave Lows and Chopper Gunners are a little trickier to dispatch, as they release a flare which redirects the missile entirely, meaning 2 missiles will usually be necessary. To take down a Pave Low or a Chopper Gunner in one shot, the player needs to be at a fairly close range, so that the missile doesn't get enough time to deviate off course. AC-130s usually take 3 missiles to be destroyed, having two flare payloads. This means the player must coordinate fire with teammates, die, or use the Scavenger perk to find another missile.

As it is quite large and stored on the player's back, it can make the player more visible when partially behind cover. It is not recommended for use with a covert sniper-type class, as it will negate the camouflaged benefits of a ghillie suit and leaves a player short-handed in close quarters combat.

The Cold-Blooded perk is an excellent companion to the Stinger, as air support will not directly target the player as they attempt interdiction. This also helps with acquiring the Pro version of said perk, which prevents the red name and crosshairs from appearing on an enemy's screen when they are looking at the user, further reducing the chance of being killed by enemy infantry whilst aquiring a lock.

The Stinger's missiles do miss occasionally if the user fires a poorly timed shot at a target, or from a bad location.

Since the Stinger has no offensive capabilities against enemy players, it is advised to pair it with an assault rifle and a Masterkey Shotgun for close quarters.

Trivia

 * It is possible to kill yourself and multiple other enemies around you with a stinger missile if it hits a nearby buliding or pole whilst locking onto an enemy vehicle.
 * On the side of the Stinger, clearly visible through a sniper scope, there is writing that says "BLAH BLAH BLAH".
 * In Call of Duty 4 multiplayer, objectives in Search and Destroy are depicted as Stingers packed into boxes.
 * During the mission "All Ghillied Up", the Stinger can lock-on to the wild dog, however only before MacMillan tells you to avoid it.
 * On Infinity Ward's website, the Stinger was voted the favorite rocket launcher in Modern Warfare 2.
 * There is a fingerprint on the ironsight in Modern Warfare 2.
 * If the Stinger is fired at an enemy aircraft as it leaves the map it will chase the aircraft until it is completely removed from play, allowing the user to destroy it and get the corresponding XP bonus anywhere from 5 to 10 seconds after it leaves the map.
 * It is possible to for the player to kill themself with the Stinger. This is done by locking on the a target to close to a wall.
 * On top of the Stinger scope, there's writing which forms names, these can be seen through a sniper scope: 8R0CKH8URD (Blackbird) - P3A58NT (Peasant) - T5U38M1 (Tsunami) - M8GN3TH38D (Magnethead) - QW33F8E8ST (Qweefbeast) - 5t0n3p13l0t (Stonepilot) - CH08ACCA (Chewbacca) - G315L3R (Geisler) - L0N65H035 (Longshoes) - C0177PY6 (Coitus) - 120YC3 (Royce) - PO12T312 (Porter) - 5OUPY (Soupy) - L0RCK (Lorck) - G121GG1 (Griggs) - K177Y (Kitty). These are all gamertags of Infinity Ward employees on Xbox Live.
 * The Stinger can't lock on if inside a building with windows, the windows must be broken first.
 * On extremely rare occasions, the Stinger missile can miss the targeted aircraft, fly up, turn around, miss again, and hit a player on the ground, as shown here.
 * The Stinger can still lock onto air support even during an EMP due to a recent patch.
 * The Stinger is the only weapon in game to have no Master challenge after Prestiging and is replaced by a Veteran IV challenge. This is probably because it is extremely difficult to get even a single kill with a stinger, let alone more than one in a shot, there fore the challenge would be nearly impossible to complete before prestiging.
 * It is possible to shoot down multiple aircraft with a single Stinger missile, if they are close enough together. This can be used to destroy a Pave Low or Chopper Gunner in one shot if a Harrier or an Attack Heli are VERY close to them. These occurances are quite rare though.
 * There is a Stinger headshot title, even though you destroy air support.