MIM-104 Patriot PAC-3
Type: Air Defense / Missile Defense System
Domain: land
Country of Origin: United States
Manufacturer: Raytheon / Lockheed Martin
First Deployed: 2001
Overview
The Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) is the latest evolution of the iconic Patriot air defense system, featuring hit-to-kill technology for ballistic missile defense. Unlike earlier variants that used blast-fragmentation warheads, PAC-3 uses a kinetic energy warhead to physically collide with incoming ballistic missiles. Extensively combat-proven, it is deployed by 18 nations and remains the gold standard in mobile theater missile defense.
Technical Specifications
| radar | AN/MPQ-65A |
|---|---|
| range | 70+ km (PAC-3 MSE) |
| speed | Mach 5 |
| altitude | 40+ km |
| guidance | Active radar homing (hit-to-kill) |
| reaction_time | ~9 seconds |
| missiles_per_battery | 12-16 PAC-3 MSE |
Operators
- Bahrain
- Germany
- Greece
- Israel
- Japan
- Jordan
- Kuwait
- Netherlands
- Poland
- Qatar
- Romania
- Saudi Arabia
- South Korea
- Spain
- Sweden
- Taiwan
- UAE
- United States
Related land Weapon Systems
- PzH 2000 - Self-Propelled Howitzer (Germany)
- Leclerc - Main Battle Tank (Germany)
- PT-91 Twardy - Main Battle Tank (Poland)
- BMP-2 Infantry Fighting Vehicle - Infantry Fighting Vehicle (Russia)
- T-62M Main Battle Tank - Main Battle Tank (Russia)
- BTR-4 Bucephalus - Wheeled Armored Vehicle (Ukraine)
- Puma IFV - Infantry Fighting Vehicle (Germany)
- Challenger 2 - Main Battle Tank (United Kingdom)
- TAM VCTP Infantry Fighting Vehicle - ifv (Argentina)
- VBCI - armored_vehicle (Germany)