US Army approves new-production Patriot

Raytheon has announced that the US Army has given its final stamp of approval to the new-production Patriot Air and Missile Defense System following the completion of a stringent testing programme. According to the company, during the test programme the Patriot’s performance was ‘outstanding’ when subjected to challenging climatic and electromagnetic environments.

The Patriot system has now undergone the US Army’s rigorous testing of every component of the modernised system, and has ‘consistently exceeded expectations’ in all eight flight tests in a variety of terrain and weather conditions.

Patriot is a highly capable air and missile defence system, protecting against a full range of advanced threats, including aircraft, tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles.

Sanjay Kapoor, vice president for Integrated Air and Missile Defense at Raytheon’s Integrated Defense Systems business, said: ‘This approval validates the modernised Patriot system’s readiness to counter evolving threats and protect warfighters and allies in a combat situation. This will only build on the confidence that our Patriot partners have in the system’s performance and reliability, a confidence we look forward to extending to the partners who join the Patriot family.’

To date the Patriot system has been selected by 12 nations worldwide. Raytheon is the prime contractor for both US domestic and international Patriot Air and Missile Defense Systems and system integrator for Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles.