Summary: The PATRIOT Missile Defense System, produced by U.S. defense contractors Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, is a cornerstone of the United States Army's air defense capabilities. Capable of intercepting high-performance aircraft and tactical ballistic missiles, the PATRIOT system comprises phased array radars, control stations, and multiple launchers with ready-to-fire missiles. It is heavily utilized by the U.S. and its allies, including Germany, Israel, Japan, and several others, for national defense purposes. Initially deployed during Operation Desert Storm, the PATRIOT has proven its effectiveness in combat scenarios, most recently intercepting Iranian attacks on Israel. 

PATRIOT Missile System: A Critical Defense Asset Amid Rising Global Tensions

The PATRIOT Missile defense system is the United States Army’s most advanced air defense system. According to the US military, the PATRIOT system is “capable of defeating both high-performance aircraft and tactical ballistic missiles, it is the operational air defense system that can shoot down attacking missiles.” 

Consisting of a phased array radar, an equipment control station, multiple computers, individual power-generation equipment, and a maximum of eight launchers—that holds four ready-to-fire missiles—these systems have a long and productive track record of service. 

These systems are produced by the US defense contractors, Raytheon in Massachusetts and Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control in Florida. Germany, Greece, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Poland, Sweden, Qatar, are but some of the US allies who rely upon the PATRIOT for national missile defense.

How the PATRIOT System Came About

The US Army often deploys the PATRIOT Missile Defense System alongside the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, such as the Pentagon did when they sent these systems to Saudi Arabia in 2019 to deter Iranian forces from attacking the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with drones and missiles. As the Ukraine War has ground on, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with COMLOG to procure PATRIOT systems for the European Sky Shield Initiative.

COMLOG is a joint venture between Raytheon and the missile systems developer, MBDA. NATO’s contract for the PATRIOT systems allows for up to 1,000 Guidance Enhanced Missiles (GEM-T) to be offered to Europe for use in the European Sky Shield Initiative. This, for a system that is 33 years old. 

First deployed and used by US forces in Saudi Arabia and Israel against Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi forces during Operation Desert Storm, the PATRIOT has a well-earned reputation for combat effectiveness. 

This system proves that the entire concept of missile defense, contrary to what critics have long argued, works.

The Backbone of Western Defense

In fact, the PATRIOT system has been the backbone of much of the Western defensive infrastructure. Its presence in contested areas has not only saved lives but it has also prevented, in many cases, escalation of hostilities. What’s more, the recent (failed) Iranian fusillade of rockets and drones against Israel was intercepted by a US-led, PATRIOT-wielding military coalition in the Middle East. Because of this, the damage to Israel was minimal and a wider war may have been avoided. 

The PATRIOT has become such an integral part of the Western defense structure that it can become a geopolitical hot potato of sorts, such as when the Obama Administration refused to sell PATRIOTs to Turkey in 2013. This, in turn, created a rupture in US-Turkish relations that persist to this day. Turkey wanted access to the PATRIOT system because of the insecurity caused by the Syrian Civil War. The US deployed PATRIOTs but Turkey wanted control of its own system. 

When the US refused to sell Turkey these systems, the Turks became infuriated. They believed they could not trust the West. What’s more, they purchased Russian systems as well, damaging the vaunted interoperability of NATO’s combined defenses. But it was over access to PATRIOT systems because these 33-year-old systems are so effective at air defense.

America’s Defense Industrial Base is Broken

Today, as the world stands on the brink of a great power war, the PATRIOT systems will be essential. The only problem facing the West now is that there are not enough PATRIOT systems to go around. And the US Army has been warning Congress about this reality for years—to no avail. Because of this, hard choices will have to be made as to where to send these systems in a multi-front conflict. 

Initially, the US had redeployed the bulk of its limited PATRIOT batteries away from the Middle East and into Ukraine as well as the Indo-Pacific, to better deter a revanchist China. Sadly, these priorities have again changed. 

Since there aren’t enough PATRIOTs to cover the whole area of instability, Washington is choosing which conflicts to send the PATRIOT systems into. The Middle East and Ukraine are now the priority whereas China’s various targets in the Indo-Pacific are left unguarded, causing more instability and consternation among America’s allies there.

The PATRIOT Missile Defense System is the greatest, most successful missile defense system ever created. Congress should immediately fund an expansion of these systems before it’s too late.

About the Author 

Brandon J. Weichert, a National Interest national security analyst, is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who is a contributor at The Washington Times, the Asia Times, and The-Pipeline. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His next book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine, is due October 22 from Encounter Books. Weichert can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.