In 1992, the US Army signed a contract for a further 679 vehicles, bringing total Avenger production to 1004 units. A further 14 units were ordered in August 1999. Taiwan has also ordered 70 systems and Egypt 50 systems.

The Avenger system is fielded worldwide with the US Army, US Marine Corps and Army National Guard. It was first deployed in 1991 to support NATO troops during Operation Desert Storm and has also been fielded in Bosnia and South Korea.

The electric turret drive is the same as that used on the Bradley Fighting Vehicle and is manufactured by General Dynamics, Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Avenger carries eight Stinger short range air defence missiles in two launch pods mounted either side of the turret. These pods have a range of elevation from -10 to +70 degrees. The Raytheon Stinger missile has an infrared seeker, 3 kg fragmentation warhead, maximum speed Mach 2.2 and maximum range 8 km. Missile reload time is eight missiles in less than four minutes. The Stinger Block II missile is being developed, which will have an imaging infrared seeker based on a focal plane array.

Avenger is equipped with a .50 calibre M3P automatic machine gun to cover the missile dead zone and engage ground targets. The machine gun, manufactured by Fabrique Nationale Herstal of Belgium, is mounted on the right launch beam with its ammunition magazine fixed on the right side of the turret below the gun barrel. 200 rounds of ammunition are carried. The gun is recoil-operated, link-belt fed and air-cooled.

The fire control system is highly automated, including automatic insertion of lead angle and super elevation at missile launch. The gunner's station has a head-up CA-562 optical sight produced by CAI division of Recon/Optical, Barrington, Illinois. Missile seeker activate and uncage and fire permit indications are projected on the sight glass. Driven reticles confirm the missile seeker is locked on to the same target the gunner is tracking.

Targets are acquired either by using the optical sight or the Raytheon AN/VLR-1 Avenger FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared). The FLIR sensor is fitted to the left launch beam and is boresighted to the aiming point of the missile pod. The FLIR has three fields of view - wide, narrow and a rain mode.

The Avenger Control Electronics (ACE) unit, produced by General Dynamics, Burlington, Vermont, is the Avenger main computer. The ACE is located beneath the console in the gunner's station.

A Raytheon eyesafe CO2 laser rangefinder provides range data which is processed by the ACE. An automatic video tracker (AVT), produced by DBA, Melbourne, Florida, is located under the gunner's console, with its tracking box on the FLIR display. The autotracker locks on to the target and provides a tracking signal to the ACE for control of the turret in elevation and azimuth. An AN/PPX-3B IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) system is also fitted.

The Remote Control Unit (RCU), also produced by General Dynamics, displays the same data which is available to the gunner, including the FLIR monitor display. It enables the crew to conduct engagements from remote positions up to 50 m from the fire unit.

An Avenger Slew-to-Cue upgrade kit has been developed to permit the existing link between the US Army FAAD Command and Control system to automatically slew the Avenger turret, placing the target in the gunner's field of view. The upgrade will include new: fire control computer, land navigation system, handheld terminal unit and remote control unit upgrade. Installation of the upgrade kits will be completed in 2003.