Patriot's Role During Desert War

Operation Desert Storm began January 17th, 1991 when Iraqi forces refused to withdraw after invading Kuwait. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ordered to his troops to invade Kuwait after Kuwait refused to cancel Iraq’s debt for financing its war efforts. Saddam Hussein accused Kuwait of stealing oil from the Iraq-Kuwait border. He also accused the United States and Israel of encouraging Kuwait to lower its oil prices. On operation Senior Surprise, seven B-52G Stratofortesses left Barkdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, and flew 14,000 miles round trip and launched 35 cruise missiles at strategic Iraqi targets.

Patriot’s role during desert storm was controversial, complex and left an imprint within the history of Air Defense Artillery.

Being a product of the Cold War confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union, Patriot was developed in 1965 to defend the skies against ballistic missile attacks. Many believed Patriot would be the difference maker during desert storm; "when the history of DESERT STORM is written, the Patriot system will be singled out as the key" General Schwarzkopf (1990). The first successful Patriot engagement intercepted a scud over Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. President George H.W. Bush then sent two Patriot Batteries to Israel, marking the first time U.S. Army crews have been sent to help with Israel’s defense. Patriot went on to intercept many Scuds over the course of Desert Storm, becoming a key factor in the war. Although Patriot was a deciding factor in the war, Patriot and Raytheon claimed to have intercepted more scuds, at a higher percentage, than were proved to have been intercepted.
"The results of these studies are disturbing. They suggest that the Patriot's intercept rate during the Gulf War was very low. The evidence from these preliminary studies indicates that Patriot's intercept rate could be much lower than ten percent, possibly even zero." Theodore A. Postol (1992)
During Desert Storm it was believed that Patriot was the greatest defense to American Soldiers and Israeli civilians from missile attacks. Reports varied supporting and disregarding Patriots effectiveness.
"The methodology described by Professor Postol and Mr. Pedatzur in their articles was not scientifically valid and therefore did not prove that Patriot didn't work in The Gulf War. Also, they had offered no substantive analysis of the results in Saudi Arabia, where deployment of Patriot, the level of training of operational crews, and the nature of the Scud engagements were quite different from the situation in Israel." Charles A. Zraket (1992).
Before Desert Storm all Patriot Batteries where equipped with PAC-1 but by the time Desert Storm kicked off PAC-2 too was introduced. PAC-2 was introduced ahead of schedule, originally scheduled for delivery in January 1991, 11 August 1990 in secrecy Battery B, 2d Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery, from one of the 11th Brigade's two Patriot battalions, was fully loaded with PAC-2 Missiles. A total of 158 PAC-2 missiles were launched at Scuds during the war, but about 3,000 Patriot missiles of all kinds were on hand at the end of the conflict.
Despite differing options of Patriot’s effectiveness, Desert Storm/ Shield would not have been a success within the unwavering contributions of Air Defense Artillery. Through Desert Storm, Patriot was able to identify flaws within the system which led to the advanced we use today.