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I wonder if you're in a position to comment on a couple of recollections I have from the first Iraq war (which I was aware of via TV news here in the UK, no dir
by ttctciyf 13y ago
I wonder if you're in a position to comment on a couple of recollections I have from the first Iraq war (which I was aware of via TV news here in the UK, no direct involvement) - things that I've wondered about over the years?
The first: I remember a report on the UK's Channel 4 News which included some footage of Patriot missiles in flight. Now this is a long time ago, and I only saw the clip once, but what I recall is that shortly after launch, rather than a clean arc, one missile seemed to describe some crazy set of mid-air loops (which I immediately interpreted as a software error) before what seemed to be a sudden dive into the ground. The voice-over didn't refer to this apparent failure directly, but you could sense a certain awkwardness. Have you ever heard of any incident matching this?
The second: as you'll know, the Patriot wasn't designed for a direct hit on incoming missiles, but was intended to get within a critical radius and then explode, triggering an explosion in the incoming missile's warhead. My friend theorised that the Iraqis exploited this by repeatedly launching missiles without payloads, so that even successfully exploding Patriots had little effect other than to deplete the military budget by X hundred thousand bucks a throw.
Do either of these sound familiar or plausible? Things that I've wondered about for years!
- dmourati 13y agoNumber 1 I can't offer any comment. I didn't delve too much into the programming of the missile though I have a similar recollection regarding the bug listed in the OP. As to two, yes, I think that makes a lot of sense. One other "success" mode of the Patriot was to explode and turn the scud in to many fragments (de facto fragmentation bomb). These fragments in turn could (and in some cases did) reach or approximate their initial target and do massive damage in excess of a single scud hit.
- ttctciyf 13y agoThanks for the reply!
- dmourati 13y agoThanks for yours. Some more data: McPeak's data, drawn from a variety of coalition sources, indicates that between January 18 and February 26, 1991, 40 Scuds were launched against Israel and 46 against Saudi Arabia. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/weapons/scud.html http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/weapons/scud.ht...
- brownbat 13y agoThere's an interesting overview of Hussein's SCUD deception efforts in a paper by USAF Col. Kipphut: http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a468155.pdf http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a468155.pdf
- PhasmaFelis 13y ago> The second: as you'll know, the Patriot wasn't designed for a direct hit on incoming missiles, but was intended to get within a critical radius and then explode, triggering an explosion in the incoming missile's warhead. My friend theorised that the Iraqis exploited this by repeatedly launching missiles without payloads, so that even successfully exploding Patriots had little effect other than to deplete the military budget by X hundred thousand bucks a throw. How much does a Scud warhead cost compared to the cost of the missile body, fuel, guidance system, etc? Scuds are certainly lower-tech than Patriots, but they're much larger and carry much more fuel, and Iraq had much less money to burn than the US. It seems unlikely to me.