New Delhi. The world’s leading arms technology company Raytheon says that there is no parallel yet to the Patriot Advanced Capability 3 (PAC-3) weapon system for anti-missile operations.
Raytheon Vice President for International Operations Maj Gen Skip Garrett told India Strategic in a telephone interview that although the Patriot system had originally been conceived as an anti-aircraft system, it was possibly the only weapon that was available to counter tactical ballistic or cruise missiles.

As a Colonel, Skip commanded the Patriot missile batteries that were deployed in Saudi Arabia in 1991 after Iraq occupied Kuwait to counter the Iraqi Scuds.

He recalled that al though “Experimental” was still written on those fire units, they had more than 70 per cent success in Saudi Arabia and over 40 per cent in Israel then, while in the 2003 Gulf War, it was more than 90 per cent.

Thanks to the rapid strides in radar and connectivity technology since then, Skip highlights that “the Patriot is the most effective weapon today to counter both air-breathing aircraft and missiles.” Its success in the 2003 Gulf War and further development proved that.

Asked to comment on the Indian Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)’s recent successes in anti-missile technology, he described it as “commendable” but pointed out that it would take years perhaps to translate this success into field deployment.

While the Indian government had to determine the level of strategic threats and decide on the response, all he could say was that the Patriot Missile System had completed over 2500 target search-and-track tests and 500 missile firings to demonstrate its performance against the full range of tactical, ballistic and cruise missiles and high performance aircraft. A country has to have a layered missile defence capability and Raytheon could provide that to India in the form of various types of missile systems, including the Patriot system.

Pointing out that Patriot is the foundation of the US Army’s Air and Missile Defense architecture, Maj Gen Garrett said that the US government had provided several billion dollars for its development over the last 10 years and today, it “is a long-range, allaltitude, all-weather system fielded to defeat advanced threats, including aircraft, tactical ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.”

It can simultaneously engage several targets in severe electronic countermeasure conditions, but when it came to ballistic or cruise missiles, particularly with nuclear or WMD threat, it would be appropriate to fire two PAC-3 hit-to-kill missiles at them.

Maj Gen Garrett said that he could claim more than 90 per cent kill probability with the GEM-T or PAC-3.

He said that the best defence is an integrated air and missile defence architecture, “which enhances both defence and deterrence.”

“One cannot take chances with nuclear threats. The success has to be 100 per cent. Patriot is the only system today that can ensure this.”

It may be noted that Raytheon is the prime integrator of the Patriot system. Raytheon makes the radar and the Patriot GEM-T missile while the PAC-3 missile is made by Lockheed Martin.

The GEM-T (Guidance Enhanced Missile) has a proximity fuse and hits a target with hundreds of pieces of shrapnel from its blast fragmentation warhead. On the other hand, the PAC-3 missile is designed to score direct hits.

For tactical ballistic missiles, Maj Gen Garrett recommended the PAC-3 missile; GEM-T is the US Army’s missile of choice for cruise missiles.

Maj Gen Garrett said that Patriot’s radar was highly sophisticated.

“It’s the heart and soul of the firing battery, and capable of inputs from several sources including aircraft and satellite to determine a threat and execute action.”

Which missile a country should buy between the GEM-T and PAC-3. “A mix,” he said, observing that different threats needed to be tackled differently. A Raytheon Patriot Fire Control Unit consists of Radar, Launcher, and a missile mix. Notably, Patriot stands for Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept of Target.

As for the layered architecture, he said that Raytheon was also offering to India AMRAAM and SLAMRAAM missiles.

AMRAAM, or Advanced Medium Range Air to Air (Beyond the Visual Range) missile, or its land version SLAMRAAM, the Surface-Launched Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missile, are both being displayed at the Defexpo in New Delhi to showcase their sophistication to the Indian military.

Mounted on a high mobility vehicle, the SLAMRAAM is considered effective against unmanned aircraft and cruise missiles and will replace all Stinger missile teams within the US Army.