| MIM-104 Patriot |
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Country: USA
Type: Medium SAM
Introduction: 1984 |
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The MIM-104 Patriot is a surface-to-air missile (SAM) system. It is manufactured by the Raytheon Company of the United States. Patriot replaced the Nike Hercules as the primary high to medium air defense platform in service with the US Army. Patriot also replaced the Hawk as the medium tactical air defense platform. In addition to these roles, Patriot has assumed the role a theater anti-ballistic missile (ABM) platform.
Patriot systems have been sold to Poland, the Republic of China (Taiwan), Egypt, Germany, Greece, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, and Spain. The Republic of Korea is also in the process of purchasing several second-hand Patriot systems.
The first fielded variant was the round MIM-104A. It was optimized solely for engagements against aircraft and had very limited capability against ballistic missiles. The MIM-104B anti standoff jammer is a missile designed to seek out and destroy ECM emitters. The first Patriot advanced capability upgrade (PAC-1) was a software-only upgrade. The MIM-104C PAC-2 missile was the first Patriot missile which was optimized for ballistic missile engagements. The PAC-3 missile is a totally new interceptor, featuring a Ka band active radar seeker, employing hit-to-kill interception (in contrast to previous interceptors that exploded in the vicinity of the target, destroying it with shrapnel). It has a substantially lower range of 15 km.
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| General Information |
| Developed by |
USA |
| Deployed by |
Germany, Greece, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, USA |
| Development Year |
1966 |
| Deployment Year |
1984 |
| Platform |
M901 launcher station mounted on a M860 semi-trailer (4 missiles) |
| Number manufactured |
11,715 (PAC-1 and PAC-2) (through 1998) |
| Number deployed |
over 6,000(USA), over 2,000(Germany), 525(Japan) |
| Contractor |
Raytheon Co., Raytheon Systems Co., Defense Systems Div. |
| Dimensions and Performance |
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Length |
5.3m |
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Body Diameter |
41cm |
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Wing/Fin span |
84cm |
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Launch Weight |
912kg |
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Range |
80km+ |
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Speed |
Mach 5.0 |
| Components |
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Propulsion |
solid rocket motor |
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Engine |
A TX-486 single-stage, all boost, solid propellant rocket motor (burn-time: 11.5sec, thrust: 10,900kg) |
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Warhead |
M248 200lb (91kg) Compposition B HE blast fragmentation warhead (PAC-1), A modified Chamberlain Ordnance 185lb fragmentation warhead (PAC-2) |
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Guidance |
inertial with command update, semiactive TVM(Track-Via-Missile) |
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