The Patriot missile

What is the Patriot missile? 

• The MIM-104 Patriot (Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept On Target) missile system is the United States Army’s main air and missile defence system. 
• It started out as an anti-aircraft system, but over the years, newer variants are capable of engaging ballistic and cruise missiles, loitering munitions, and aircraft.
• The entire system includes a phased array radar, a control station, computers and generators.
• Manufactured by the US defence contractor Raytheon, the Patriot is in service with the US and allied countries including Germany, Greece, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Poland, Sweden, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Romania, Spain, and Taiwan.
• The Patriot is a surface-to-air guided missile system that was first deployed in the 1980s and can target aircraft, cruise missiles and shorter-range ballistic missiles.
• Each Patriot battery consists of a truck-mounted launching system with eight launchers that can hold up to four missile interceptors each, a ground radar, a control station and a generator.  
• Over the years the Patriot system and missiles have been continually modified. The current interceptor missile for the Patriot system costs approximately $4 million per round and the launchers cost about $10 million each.  
• A Patriot battery can need as many as 90 troops to operate and maintain it.
• The Patriot battery has a long firing range, but can cover only a limited broad area and it has a more powerful radar that is better at discriminating targets.