Military Knowledge: Patriot Missile System

Tuesday 21 December 2021 - 13:17

https://english.iswnews.com/?p=21773

The MIM-104 Patriot is a mid-range surface-to-air missile system manufactured by the US Raytheon Company and has been in service since 1984. Its anti-ballistic model was made in 1988. The system serves the United States and a number of its allies.

In the initial versions, this system uses AN/MPQ-53 passive Phased Array radar, in the next generation AN/MPQ-65 passive phased array radar and in the latest generation of this system it use active phased array radar using GaN semiconductor called LTAMDS.

The AN/MPQ-53 and AN/MPQ-65 radars have a 120 degree coverage angle limit. Therefore, the lack of full coverage was one of the major weaknesses of this system; But in the new generation of radar, this problem is solved and the coverage angle is 360 degrees.

The Patriot system mainly uses two missiles, PAC-2 and PAC-3. To use the PAC-3 missile, it is necessary to have MPQ-65 radar. PAC-2 missiles have a range of more than 100 km and are commonly used to hunt aerodynamic targets such as aircraft, drones, warplanes, AWACS, etc. and PAC-3 missiles with a range of 20-35 km (depending on the version) are more suitable for hunting ballistic and cruise missiles.

Currently, 16 US allies use the Patriot system; Saudi Arabia is the largest user of the Patriot system after the United States.

Patriot air defense system specifications:
Maximum range: +100 km (PAC-2)
Radar range: +100 km
Radar type: Phased array
Radar band: C band
Number of radar elements: 5000
Missile length: 8.5 m (PAC-2)
Missile weight: 900 kg
Max number of missiles loaded per launcher: 4 rounds (PAC-2) – 16 rounds (PAC-3)
Origin: USA