Patriot System Can Knock Out Missiles, Planes

The Patriot missile is considered the leading defense product of the Raytheon Co. here.

The missile system was initially deployed to defend against attacking aircraft. Modifications have given it the capacity to defend against cruise missiles and tactical ballistic missiles.

This multiple capability is the Patriot system’s “very special” quality, a company spokesperson said.

“It’s the only system in the world that can deal with the type of battlefield scenario” that can simultaneously handle hostile aircraft, cruise missiles and tactical ballistic missiles, another Raytheon representative said.

The system features a ground-based detection system known as Phased Array Radar, which is used for surveillance and to detect, track and engage incoming enemy missiles.

Seventeen feet tall, each Patriot missile weighs 2,100 pounds and can travel at 3 1/2 times the speed of sound. It has a range of just over four miles.

The trailer-sized command and control center, where operators can see the tactical engagements displayed on a screen, is the system’s only staffed vehicle.

A Raytheon spokesman said each system, known as a fire unit, typically has eight missile launchers, each containing four missiles, and costs about $200 million.

To date, Raytheon has produced more than 100 fire units and more than 4,000 missiles.

The Patriot system was developed in the early 1970s to hit medium- and high-altitude aircraft. Production started in Raytheon’s Andover, Mass., plant in 1980. Four years later, the systems were fully operational.

The Patriot system was first deployed with the U.S. Army as part of the NATO structure in Europe in 1985. In 1986, the system was modified to defend against attacking ballistic missiles as well. In a 1986 trial, the Patriot first knocked out a surface-to-surface Lance missile. Since that time, 16 flights tests of the Patriot--most recently in November, 1990--have consistently demonstrated its ability to knock out ballistic missiles.

Until it was put into use by U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf last Thursday, it remained untested in combat.

The Patriot system has been deployed with U.S. forces in Germany and the Netherlands. Raytheon has signed a licensing agreement to produce the system with Japan and also signed a contract to provide Patriot ground equipment and missiles to Italy.

Two systems were delivered to Israel last year, but they were still under modification and crews were still being trained when complete systems with American crews arrived Saturday.

Under a program introduced by the Bush Administration last fall, Raytheon has agreed to sell eight Patriot fire units to the U.S. government, which will in turn sell them to Saudi Arabia.

The Patriot is Raytheon’s largest program, a spokesperson said.

Founded in 1922 by scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Raytheon is Massachusetts’ largest employer.

WHY ISRAEL LACKED PATRIOT MISSILES

The announcement that the United States would send additional Patriot missile batteries to Israel followed questions about why such weapons had not been deployed earlier. Among the considerations: * Two supersonic Patriot batteries that arrived in Israel within the last several weeks were first offered to Israel more than a year ago. * The Israeli Defense Ministry has been developing a $158-million anti-missile system of its own--the Arrow. It will not be operational for three to five years, it is estimated. * Israel has Hawk surface-to-air missiles that can destroy enemy aircraft. Other than the Patriots, the country has no weapon against enemy missiles. * Training required to fire the sophisticated Patriots is estimated at some weeks. * About 4,000 Patriot missiles made by Raytheon, a Massachusetts company, are deployed among U.S.-allied countries. * Patriot production began in 1980. It originally was an anti-aircraft missile until the company shifted its contracts. * Each missile system typically consists of eight launchers, and each launcher has four missiles. * The 17-foot, 2,100-pound Patriot homes in on a radar beam, while traveling at more than three times the speed of sound, to reach its moving target up to 4.28 miles away. The Patriot can hit aircraft and missiles at medium and high altitudes.