page_title: MIM-104 Patriot
section_title: Trial by fire
hierarchical_section_title: MIM-104 Patriot / Operational history / Persian Gulf War (1991) / Trial by fire
caption_attribution_description: English: The AN/MPQ-53 radar system used by the Patriot for target detection, tracking and missile guidance. Nederlands: Het AN-MPQ53 radarsysteem kan doelen herkennen en volgen, evenals de afgevuurde raketten begeleiden.
context_page_description: The MIM-104 Patriot is a surface-to-air missile system, the primary of its kind used by the United States Army and several allied nations. It is manufactured by the U.S. defense contractor Raytheon and derives its name from the radar component of the weapon system. The AN/MPQ-53 at the heart of the system is known as the "Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept on Target" which is a backronym for PATRIOT. The Patriot System replaced the Nike Hercules system as the U.S. Army's primary High to Medium Air Defense system, and replaced the MIM-23 Hawk system as the U.S. Army's medium tactical air defense system. In addition to these roles, Patriot has been given the function of the U.S. Army's anti-ballistic missile system, which is now Patriot's primary mission. The system is expected to stay fielded until at least 2040.
  Patriot uses an advanced aerial interceptor missile and high-performance radar systems. Patriot was developed at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, which had previously developed the Safeguard ABM system and its component Spartan and hypersonic speed Sprint missiles. The symbol for Patriot is a drawing of a Revolutionary War-era Minuteman.
context_section_description: Prior to the First Gulf War, ballistic missile defense was an unproven concept in war. During Operation Desert Storm, in addition to its anti-aircraft mission, Patriot was assigned to shoot down incoming Iraqi Scud or Al Hussein short range ballistic missiles launched at Israel and Saudi Arabia. The first combat use of Patriot occurred January 18, 1991 when it engaged what was later found to be a computer glitch. There were actually no Scuds fired at Saudi Arabia on January 18. This incident was widely misreported as the first successful interception of an enemy ballistic missile in history.
  Throughout the war, Patriot missiles attempted engagement of over 40 hostile ballistic missiles. The success of these engagements, and in particular how many of them were real targets, is still controversial. Postwar video analysis of presumed interceptions by MIT professor Theodore Postol suggests that no Scud was actually hit; this analysis is contested by Peter D. Zimmerman, who claimed that photographs of the fuselage of downed SCUD missiles in Saudi Arabia demonstrated that the SCUD missiles were fired into Saudi Arabia and were riddled with fragments from the lethality enhancer of Patriot Missiles.
caption: The AN/MPQ-53 radar system used by the Patriot for target detection, tracking and missile guidance.
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