The Patriot Missile System: The Persian Gulf War

It influenced future generations of soldiers and equipment to advance both tactically and technically, greatly increasing the multi-role diversity and capabilities of the Air Defense Artillery systems of today’s United States Army. Compared to the Patriot Launcher Missile system, it showed that Air Defense units could be multifaceted. Like the M42 Duster (SPAAG), the Patriot system demonstrated excellent destruction ratio for aircraft but the system also worked well in defense of TBM’s (Tactical Ballistic

The first SHORAD Air Defense unit to deploy to this conflict was 5th Battalion, 62nd Air Defense Artillery. 5/62 ADA was a Vulcan Stinger unit that originally deployed on 12 August 1990 to protect Patriot units due to their vulnerability from low flying, air breathing threats. 5/62 ADA was later split up and each battery given assignments to protect other types of units. Examples of these assignments are; Alpha Battery joined the 75th Field Artillery Brigade and Bravo Battery joined 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. (Henry)

Centuries before the Korean War, wars were long and painful events that any man could ever go through. Troops would match from countries to countries, crossing mountains, trial through the forest, and wander the desert to meet with their enemy in battle. The only problem with the troops traveling so far for so long is that before the war ever starts, the men were fatigued and casualty rates were higher than they should be. By the Korean War, an amazing machine was introduced to the military ranks, turning the tide in warfighting and troop survivability. UH-1 Huey Helicopter, or Utility Helicopter, was the one machine that was created by Bell that change the concept in warfighting and giving the United States the upper hand in war. On several

“Early on the morning of January 17, 1991, a massive U.S.-led air offensive hit Iraq’s air defenses, moving swiftly on to its communications networks, weapons plants, oil refineries and more. The coalition effort, known as Operation Desert Storm, benefited from the latest military technology, including Stealth bombers, Cruise missiles, so-called “Smart” bombs with laser-guidance systems and infrared night-bombing equipment” (“Persian Gulf War - Facts & Summary”). The goal here was to win the war in the air in order to reduce combat on the ground as much as possible. “By mid-February, the coalition forces had shifted the focus of their air attacks toward Iraqi ground forces in Kuwait and southern Iraq. A massive allied ground offensive, Operation Desert Sabre, was launched on February 24, with troops heading from northeastern Saudi Arabia into Kuwait and southern Iraq. Over the next four days, coalition forces encircled and defeated the Iraqis and liberated Kuwait” (“Persian Gulf War - Facts & Summary”). Bush declared a ceasefire on February 28, ending the Persian Gulf War. According to the peace terms, Iraq would recognize Kuwait’s sovereignty and get rid of all of it’s weapons of mass

On the night of May 17 a few minutes past 8:00 P.M. the Tactical Action Officer, Lieutenant Basil Moncrief, “received a report from an airborne warning and control system (AWACS) airplane-essentially a flying radar station-that an Iraqi F-1 Mirage fighter had departed Shaibah Military Airport in southern Iraq and was ‘feet wet’ over the Gulf, flying southward toward the Stark’s position” (Symonds, 269). No alarms were set off by the report of this air craft because of the high level of air traffic due to the war. The ship detected the Iraqi air craft on radar when it was two hundred miles out. Once the jet reached 70 miles out from the ship, the Petty Officer in charge of monitoring the radar asked Moncrief if he should send out a warning message but Moncrief said no, and to wait. When the Iraqi jet reached fifty miles out from the frigate, “Moncrief alerted Brindel (the captain), who directed Moncrief to send out a message on the international air distress frequency demanding identification” (Symonds, 269). Seconds after the warning was sent out, the pilot of the jet launched an Exocet AM39 air-to-surface missile. Shortly after a second missile was fired.

with a U.S. naval escort in the Persian Gulf led to clashes with Iran in 1987.

In conclusion, the history of Air Defense is a broad and cultured history spanning from the early 1800’s to present day. Our proud branch has fought in many wars like the Korean War, Vietnam War, WWI and WWII, Desert Storm, and of course Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). The contribution ADA has given to OIF and OEF has not only evolved the way we combat aerially but has changed the dynamic of which we fight our wars

To deal with the situation, Mr. Reagan’s task for the U.S was to make a massive U.S army with many troops and weapon. Strategic Defense Initiative was announced in 1983. It’s a plan for a development on space-based weapons to protect America from nuclear missiles by the Soviet Union. In October 1983, a little more than one year from when Mr. Reagan sent 800 U.S. Marines to Lebanon on June 1982, they were attacked by suicide bombers, at Beirut Barracks, killing 241 American Marines. During the same month of October, Mr. Reagan ordered the invention of the Caribbean island. On Mr. Reagan’s second term, America and the Soviet Union signed a agreement to eliminate nuclear missile use in 1987. A little later in that same year, Mr. Reagan spoke at the Berlin wall, challenged Soviet Premier Gorbachev to tear down the walls. Two years later, Gorbachev allowed the people to dismantle the remaining walls and that ends the cold

In conclusion the United States of Americas Army’s anti aircrafts role in the Korean War was very minor. We did provide security of the Suwon Air Field witch aided the evacuation of civilians along with getting supplies to the soldiers on the frontlines. The military’s use of the 90mm anti-aircraft weapon system, we felt played a significant role in the advancements of the Air Defense Artillery technology and war fighting procedures as we use them

In order for the resistance for these anti-communist cars in the MIddle East they needed there weapon supply to come from somewhere and that was of course from the Western power itself, the United States. The United States trained thousands on the usage of many guns including anti aircraft missiles which could pick off Soviet fighters in order to maintain air fighting during the time. The stinger was clearly effective however and created a great outcomes according to United States congressman Charlie Wilson who states “... before the Stinger the Mujahideen never won a set piece battle with the Soviets but after it was introduced, the Mujahideen never again lost one.” This would be called the stinger effect and although looks good on paper did actually come back to bite the United States in the future. This gave groups of people who were used to rebellion each a very powerful destructive weapon that when having conflict against each other or even the now established government. At first this resistance were scattered and the threats were minimal but one thing in the

In today’s digital age, development of new technology and weapons are at an alarming rate, hence arises the need to stay ahead of advancements in order to properly defend the nation, as well as coalition forces and allies. In this period of warfare, the number one threat comes in the form of air breathing and ballistic missiles. During World War II, this threat was present, but was not thought to be prevalent.

In 1968, the Soviet Union came up with a new development- the building of antiballistic missiles defence systems. These were to be used for nuclear, chemical, biological or even conventional warheads in the homeland defence of such a strike because they were designed to counter ICBM’s. As a method to counter this development, United States came up with multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicles (MIRV’s) which improved the chances of avoiding detection by ABM systems. In addition to this, United States also developed its own IBM in order to match that of Soviet Union.

The impact made by ADA forces spanned over many countries, the main ones being Germany, Israel, Turkey and Iraq. Using their newest developed missiles, Patriot Antitactical ballistic missile Capability, phase 1 (PAC-1) and Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2), the Iraqi army had nothing as a comparable counterpart (Burr, 2001). These missiles were 17 feet, 5 inches in length, had a warhead with 221 pounds of high explosive, and could fly at Mach 3 up to 78,000 feet in altitude with a range of 43 miles (Leyden, 1997). The radar, control station, and launchers were all connected via computer, activating when a launch was detected and the “highest probability of a kill [was] obtained” (Burr, 2001). The newer PAC-2 missiles were capable of self-guidance with track-via-missile software and were more effective than their PAC-1

Currently, 35th ADA Brigade is the driving force behind air defense in South Korea and consists of eight Patriot Batteries, one Short Range Air Defense (SHORAD) Battery, and one Terminal High Altitude Area Air Defense (THAAD) Battery. THAAD is the most recent employment with its AN/TPY-2 radar giving the U.S. and ROK an extended range that far exceeds the Patriot radar systems. ROK military itself is not lacking air defense power either. They currently have a multitude of air defense capable systems that are ready at a moment’s

The history of missile defense system goes back to World War II when the Nazi’s started developing ballistic missiles and long range rockets. Allied forces were unable to defend themselves against these high speed missiles that were launched from over 100 miles away, leaving troops unprotected. According to Roger Handberg , “during the war, London and Antwerp were heavily bombarded, the first cities to suffer ballistic missile attacks against which there exited no defense once successfully launched [1].” Unfortunately, U.S. spent billions of dollars on aircrafts and other technologies because they did not see the ballistic missiles as a potential threat. They figured that