By Scott R. Gourley

The PAC-3 missile is a high velocity, hit-to-kill missile and is the newest addition to the Patriot family of missiles. In recent firing tests at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., the PAC-3 demonstrated its latest capabilities against advanced tactical ballistic missiles (TBM) and other increasingly sophisticated air threats.

The Patriot PAC-3 program is managed by the U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space and executed by the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Project Office in Huntsville, Ala. Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, Dallas, Texas, is the prime contractor responsible for the PAC-3 missile segment. Raytheon Systems Company, the Patriot system prime contractor, is the system integrator for the PAC-3 missile segment.

“The most prominent feature of the PAC-3 missile segment is the interceptor,” explains Richard McDaniel, director of the PAC-3 missile program at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, “but it also includes parts of the ground equipment—multi-missile launcher electronics that interface into the Patriot system—and the canister in which the missile comes.”

The most obvious difference between the PAC-3 missile and earlier Patriot designs is in the kill chain, with PAC-3 featuring a hit-to-kill design versus the blast/fragmentation warhead device in earlier models.

“After our experience with the earlier Patriot missile in Operation Desert Storm it was evident that our adversaries were willing to use short-range terminal ballistic missiles much more than, perhaps, we had faced in the past,” McDaniel said.

“And it was clear that a blast/frag type of kill chain against that weapon wasn’t going to be as effective as it needed to be, especially if that weapon was carrying a weapon of mass destruction.”

“So one of the incentives for going with a hit-to-kill weapon in PAC-3 was really the Desert Storm conflict,” he added. “That experience resulted in a long development program that was wildly successful, especially when you look back and see the system had 19 or 22 flight test successes and was operationally combat proven in Operation Iraqi Freedom [OIF].”

One of the critical OIF combat engagements occurred in March 2003, when an Iraqi Ababil-100 missile was reportedly fired at the Combined Forces Land Component Command (CFLCC) headquarters.

A PAC-3 missile, launched by 2nd Battalion, 43rd Air Defense Artillery, made a direct hit to destroy that incoming threat.

Development and refinement of the PAC-3 missile continued. One test of the latest design was demonstrated during the August 2006 shot at White Sands. The firing, which featured a two-missile ripple engagement against a modified Patriot target representing a short-range TBM, repeated a test mission that was originally undertaken in November 2005.

“That mission was not as successful as we would have liked,” McDaniel acknowledged, adding that one of the reasons behind this repeat test “was improvements to the system and the interceptor to deal with the advancing threat.”

“The August show was tremendously successful,” he continued, “and it ironed out any of the remaining issues that we had discovered back in November. Obviously we had cleaned those up, based on our results, and had a great day at the range.”

“The test shot demonstrated functionality not only in the interceptor, but in the system as well, to deal with some of these advancing threats,” McDaniel said. “And standard doctrine against any tactical based missile, whether they are advanced or not, is a shoot-shoot doctrine. There’s just not enough time to shoot, look to see if you hit it and then shoot again. So against these targets we shoot two missiles in ripple.”

He added, “Interestingly enough, in this firing we intercepted the target with the first shot, as planned. But the second missile, right behind the first, was also tracking the target. It essentially ‘watched’ the intercept and then locked onto a piece of debris and, if you will, ‘killed’ the remainder of the target. And in that second intercept we got to see some modifications we had made to the flight software as improvements working, and there was some bonus data there.”

As of this writing, the next test shot was slated for late October.

The PAC-3 missile segment is currently in the seventh iteration of annual production buys, with contractor representatives expecting to work with the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Project Office to initiate the eighth and ninth iterations of those production runs beginning in fiscal year (FY) 2007 and FY 2008.

“One of the things we’re really excited about right now is that we just completed the third year of development activities for the first major spiral of the PAC-3 missile, which is known as the Missile Segment Enhancement [MSE],” McDaniel said. “Essentially, that is reengining or putting a new propulsion system on the PAC-3 missile. And that results in a hugely expanded battlespace, increased maneuverability and all of the other benefits that more horsepower brings.”

First test flight of the MSE configuration is anticipated before the middle of 2007, with additional flight testing slated to run into 2008.

“We will also still be firing the current PAC-3 configuration,” McDaniel noted. “We have a planned shot in the February timeframe of next year to demonstrate some software enhancements in the missile. We’re always trying to keep up with the advancements in the threat.”

McDaniel noted that the extended operational battlespace promised by the MSE design would open the PAC-3 to expanded joint service applications, ranging from a possible sea-based terminal defense application aboard the Navy’s Aegis weapon system to an air-launched capability that could integrate the PAC-3 MSE onto an F-15 for homeland defense or cruise missile defense roles.

“The MSE missile was also recently selected as the MEADS [medium extended air defense system] missile,” he said. “Clearly we entered the MEADS program with the current configuration PAC-3. But, given where we are with the development of the MSE, it’s just the right decision to switch from the baseline configuration over to MSE, as it will be coming off the production line right at the time that MEADS is going to be needing it for their flight test program. So it makes sense to move to that configuration. And this summer there was tri-national concurrence to do that.”

Summarizing PAC-3’s significance to today’s warfighter, McDaniel observed, “When you see the experience that we had in OIF and you see what is available to the warfighter—not just the soldier in the U.S. Army but all warfighters and all of us—to defeat these weapons, which our adversaries have clearly demonstrated they are willing to use and are using now, there is one system that can protect reliably and provide a shield against these lethal weapons, and that’s Patriot PAC-3. There is no other fielded system that the DoD owns to do that. And one of the best things about being associated with this program is that we are helping the Army to have that system and have that kind of protection.”