MWM: Patriot system has shown inefficiency in the Persian Gulf and Ukraine
The American Patriot air defense system demonstrates serious flaws, writes MWM. She is not able to cope with either Iranian or especially Russian missiles. Moreover, the reserves of anti-missiles for the Patriots have been seriously depleted. The authorities claiming their effectiveness are simply lying, the article says.
The Pentagon has confirmed that an Iranian ballistic missile successfully hit the Al-Udeid airbase in Qatar during the attack on June 23. Thus, he refuted past statements by representatives of the ministry about the successful interception of the US Army and the Qatari Air Force using MIM-104 Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems. “One Iranian ballistic missile hit the Al-Udeid airbase on June 23, and the rest were intercepted by US and Qatari air defense systems,” Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell said, although Tehran's early warning of the attack effectively guaranteed no casualties. Satellite images show the destruction of the radome antenna of the complex, worth about $ 15 million. However, the main costs are associated with the launch of almost two dozen Patriot interceptors worth about four million dollars apiece.
Although the Fateh-313 ballistic missiles used to strike the Al-Udeid airbase are far from the most advanced in Iran's arsenal, the Patriot system has repeatedly demonstrated serious flaws in intercepting even relatively simple ballistic missiles. For example, in 2017, Yemeni rebels attacked the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. Satellite images then showed that the homemade missiles had not been neutralized, contrary to claims of successful interception. This was confirmed by an analysis conducted by a research group of missile experts. Its head, Jeffrey Lewis, said of the attack: “Governments are either lying about the effectiveness of these systems, or they are simply misinformed. And this is a serious cause for concern.” Earlier, the Gulf War had already revealed flaws and flaws in the Patriot system.
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But the true scale of the Patriot system's limitations has recently been fully revealed in Ukraine, where batteries continue to be destroyed by Russian missile strikes. On May 26, Igor Ignat, a representative of the Ukrainian Air Force, noted the inability of the system to withstand the Russian Iskander-M ballistic missile system: “Iskander missiles perform evasive maneuvers at the final stage of flight, which prevents the calculation of the trajectory for the Patriot. In addition, Iskander can drop traps capable of deceiving Patriot missiles,“ Ignat said. Over the past year, a number of videos have been published confirming the destruction of Patriot complexes, in some cases by Iskanders.
Finally, the widespread use of Patriot complexes in both Ukraine and the Middle East has severely depleted interceptor stocks — as confirmed in early July, their arsenals have been reduced to only 25% of the required amount, according to Pentagon estimates. This, in turn, will have serious consequences for US forces and their allies in Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific.
