Patriot missiles demonstrate field readiness

Raytheon's Patriot Air and Missile Defense System test fired nine Patriot missiles at McGregor Range, N.M., during its annual Field Surveillance Program (FSP), successfully engaging inbound and outbound unmanned air breathing targets.

This was the first FSP conducted with the PAC-2 missiles, using the recently launched Post Deployment Build-7 (PDB-7) software and the modernized radar with radar digital processor.

"All of our Patriot partners participate in the FSP as part of our Engineering Services Program and contribute randomly picked missiles from their inventory to verify the integrity of the missiles in the field through independent assessment," said Ralph Acaba, vice president for Integrated Air and Missile Defense at Raytheon's Integrated Defense Systems business.

"Having each partner contribute a small number of missiles for testing is a cost-effective way to ensure the field readiness of the worldwide inventory of missiles that the global Patriot family relies on."

This test comes on the heels of the successful PAC-3 FSP test conducted on November 20th. In 2013 alone, missiles from the U.S. and several foreign military sales customers have been test fired under the FSP.