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Patriot Air Missile Essay

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In October of 1964, the Secretary of Defense started a program for Surface to Air Missile, Development (SAM-D). In May of 1976, the Secretary of Defense renamed SAM-D to Patriot Air Defense Missile System and tested joint engagement operations with HAWK in 1977. In May of 1982, the first Patriot unit started under 32d Army Air Defense Command. During a tactical exercise at White Sands Missile Range in September of 1986, the Patriot successfully deflected a LANCE missile, which was simulating the SS-21 tactical ballistic missile (TBM) threat. During the exercise, Patriot, for the first time, had defended a protected asset against a TBM. In August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait and problems began to rise in the Middle East. The nation would …show more content…

The weapons system did not have an internal data recorder and commanders were cautious of using external recording devices due to the possibility of a system crash while in use (Carlone, 1992, p. 6). Postol (1991) official teams of Israeli scientists using their own equipment from Israel’s missile test ranges with providing “the United States with its only source of detailed technical data on Patriot’s performance” (p. 137-138). Even with the lack of technical data, damage analysis and eye witness reports in Israel began to paint a troubling picture of Patriot’s ability to defeat tactical ballistic missiles. Successful Patriot engagements may have simply diverted or broken up the incoming missile. While the missile did not impact the planned target, debris from the engagement caused widespread damage on the ground. Some reports of Patriot interceptors chasing TBMs to the ground also surfaced. The missile used by Iraq, the SCUD-B variant Al-Husayn, had a tendency for breaking apart upon reentry into the atmosphere. When this happened after Patriot forces had fired interceptors, the missiles in flight “were suddenly confronted by two or more targets instead of one, and there was not enough time to launch additional interceptors” (Postol, 1991, p. 130). The most well known failure of Patriot during this war happened due to a timing error within the software produced by continuous operation of the system. The error continued to get worst, the longer the system was running. At this location, the system had been running continuously for 100 hours. This error caused the Patriot battery to fail to track an incoming TBM. The missile impacted an Army barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing 28 American Soldiers and wounding dozens. An Israeli Patriot unit had identified the timing error and a software modification was circulating the region. The

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