Patriot is the foundation of integrated air and missile defense for 18 nations.

Proven in war and peace

Since it was first fielded, Patriot has been used by five nations in more than 250 combat engagements against manned and unmanned aircraft, cruise missiles, and tactical ballistic missiles. Since January of 2015, Patriot has intercepted more than 150 ballistic missiles in combat operations around the world; more than 90 of those intercepts involved the low-cost Raytheon-made Guidance Enhanced Missile family of surface-to-air missiles.

Those engagements were possible because Patriot is built on a foundation of more than 3,000 ground tests and over 1,400 flight tests.

Each and every time Patriot is tested or live fired, engineers uncover new ways to further improve or enhance the system. The improvements are necessary because the threat is constantly changing and becoming more sophisticated. 

Continually upgraded

The result of the improvements and enhancements is that today’s Patriot is advanced, modern, and capable of defeating the full spectrum of threats.  It shares the same name and basic purpose of the Patriot of the past, but that is where the similarity ends.

Patriot has continually embraced new technologies to stay ahead of evolving threats.  As a result, with a few small exceptions, such as heaters and cooling fans, the bulk of the system has been modernized over the past 17 years.

This is possible because Patriot’s architecture is flexible and designed in a manner that allows it to be continually upgraded and improved. 

This on-going modernization is funded by members of the Patriot partnership – a 18-nation consortium of Patriot users which has invested significantly in improvements, enhancements and upgrades over the past 20 years.

18-nation interoperability

Raytheon has built and delivered more than 240 Patriot fire units. Many countries have chosen to take advantage of Patriot’s flexible architecture and upgraded their systems. 

That translates into global interoperability. Countries with Patriot can – and do – train together. And if need be, they can operate together in combat. 

The future of air and missile defense

Global Patriot has a defined growth path that will ensure the system continues outpacing the threat through 2048 and beyond.