(Patriot PAC-3 missile)
(This article was originally written by Desktop War War Games, and the pictures are from the Internet. "Desktop War Games" focuses on the cultivation of the military field, insists on originality, and sticks to the original intention. Welcome your guidance.)
article: Desktop War Games | Saiwen
The origin of the "Patriot" missile
Before, many of us have played a very classic war game - Red Alert (referred to as Red Alert), and when the Construction complete sounded, the players' buildings had been built, which evoked memories of countless people. When it comes to the Allied air defense weapons, the one we are most familiar with is our Patriot missile. When dealing with enemy air units, the Patriot missile single-shot missile has greatly damaged and defended our airspace.
(Full-size model of Patriot PAC-3 anti-missile missile)
In the real world, the Patriot missile began to be researched and developed in the early 1960s. At that time, in order to develop a new type of air defense weapon, which can not only resist attacks from enemy air units, but also have anti-missile air defense equipment. By 1984, the first set of Patriot missiles (MIM-104A) was officially put into service, and was delivered to the US Army for use by US Raytheon as the main contractor, becoming a member of the US military's air defense force. In 1988, it was improved and upgraded, and the PAC-1 missiles and PAC-2 missiles that were later known were derived. In 1991, the famous Gulf War made its mark and achieved good performance.
(Schematic diagram of the third-generation anti-missile system combat concept)
"Patriot" missile shows its power
Gulf War can be said to be the battle of fame of the "Patriot" missile. The incident of the "Patriot" war " Scud " also made the whole world realize the "Patriot" missile. Iraqi launched 10 "Scud" missiles to attack Saudi , but 9 were shot down by the "Patriot" missiles deployed in Saudi Arabia. The whole process took only 1 minute, and only one missile was missed, and the interception rate reached 90%. It shocked the whole world and brought the surface-to-air anti-missile system to the stage, confirming its practicality, which is of great significance. In the game "Red Alert", you can often see the "Patriot" missile intercepting the coalition's V3 rockets in the air, which is also based on this incident.
(the famous Patriot missile in the Gulf War)
The "Patriot" missile used in the Gulf War is mainly deployed with MIM-104C (Patriot missile PAC-2 type). The missile is 5.2 meters long and has a diameter of 410cm. The classic-shaped tail adopts 4 movable tail wings, which are loaded in a quad-mounted launch box and are launched by the launch vehicle. The launch speed is 3 Mach . It can reach Mach 6 when intercepting targets, with a maximum effective range of 70~100km and a height of 25km. Early Patriot missiles use command and guidance plus semi-automatic radar guidance, which can have an interception rate of 90%, which is still quite powerful.
(Patriot missile being launched)
"Patriot" missile fell to the altar
"Patriot" missile quickly became popular in various countries after the Gulf War, and the demand for orders increased significantly. Germany, Netherlands , Greece , Spain and other countries, Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, Egypt , etc., Japan and South Korea in Asia were also equipped with "Patriot" missiles, but the problem has gradually emerged. The "Patriot" missile that is as strong as the stars are not what they seem to be.
(shooted downed Scud missile)
First, in 2003, the "Patriot" missile shot down the US Allied British tornado GR4 fighter . Although the US military later stated that it was the British fighter who forgot to turn on the enemy-to-me recognition device, the Patriot missile attacked it, but only the US military itself knew what the fact was. Not long after this storm, the Patriot-3 locked in the United States' own F-16 fighter jet and prepared to launch missiles. Fortunately, the US pilot was well-trained and took the initiative when the Patriot missile was about to hit him, knocking out the Patriot radar.Another US pilot was not so lucky. In less than a week, the Patriot-3 finally successfully hit the US F/A-18 Bumblebee fighter, killing the pilot. However, during the entire flight, the enemy Iraqi Air Force did not dispatch at all. The Patriot missile shot down its own aircraft. After the entire incident, the Patriot was also jokingly called the "Traitor" missile, which posed a great hidden danger in its ability to identify the enemy and us.
(US Patriot missile)
Conclusion
Although it seems that the "Patriot" missile has many hidden dangers, it is still the most important missile defense system in the United States, and the "Patriot" fight "Scud" also has extraordinary significance, proving that h The technical feasibility of the tml8 surface-to-air missile anti-missile performance is that even though the actual combat performance is partially affected (the 90% interception rate mentioned above may actually be mostly hitting the debris of the "Scud" missile entering the atmosphere and being burned and fell off), but no matter what the actual performance is, the "Patriot" missile started the rapid development of surface-to-air missile anti-missile system technology after the Gulf War, laying the foundation for the international significance of the "Patriot" missile.
