Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!cbnewse!cbnewsd!cbfsb!cbnewsc!cbnews!cbnews!military From: rubin@cis.ohio-state.edu (daniel j rubin) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Patriots - dangerous to use? Message-ID: <1991Feb19.033653.19495@cbnews.att.com> Date: 19 Feb 91 03:36:53 GMT References: <1991Feb18.061210.14241@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: Ohio State University Computer and Information Science Lines: 31 Approved: military@att.att.com From: rubin@cis.ohio-state.edu (daniel j rubin) >Forgive me if this has been discussed, but I just read an article by a >reporter that has just returned from Israel. He ->witnessed<- Patriot >missles being fired, and going off course and exploding in Tel Aviv. > >How reliable are these things really? I've been told >that doctrine is to launch 2 Patriots for every incoming SCUD- what happens >to the Patriot that doesn't hit a SCUD (even non-defective, on course ones)- >to they fall to earth and cause damage? How could they NOT cause damage? From what I have read and heard the way a patriot works is that the path of the incomming missle is calculated and the patriot is programmed to cross this path at a point were the incomming missle is about to cross it. When the patriot gets to this point it's nose cone releases a lot of cubes that eventually run into the incomming missle causing it to break up and its warhead to explode in the air. I don't see how a patriot can do that much damage since it just releases hi speed cubes to intercept the incomming missle and since it is programmed to release them at a cretain point in the air it does not matter if the what happens to the incomming missle if two patriots are launched because they both have a set task anyways. All this is from reading USA Today and watching CNN so there is a very real chance that I could be wrong, but this would be the way I would do it anyways.... - Dan Rubin