As stated in this dev blog; [Development] Optical Contrast Mode - News - War Thunder
you guys introduced optical contrast mode for three vehicles: Strela-10M2, Imp, and the Tan-SAM
will this feature be further implemented into other SAM vehicles like the SIDAM 25 (Mistral), SANTAL, LAV-AD, etc?
Mistral, Stinger, and MIM-72G all use dual band IR/UV Rosette Scan seekers
In practice (IRL) they are much better than the comparatively unsophisticated optical contrast seekers of the Strela and Co.
Unfortunately, since much of the official data is classified about these missiles we can’t prove this to Gaijijn. The UV portion of the seeker detects the contrast in UV radiation around a target (Basically seeing its shadow) Along with your standard IR guidance, it can acquire targets at much longer ranges as well as be much more flare-resistant than a standard IR missile.
I still wish Stingers in game were just like they are IRL
22g Pull
Long lock range against helicopters
Total flare resistance