Free Republic

The early days of the air war, Americans rejoiced at film footage of Patriot missiles knocking Iraqi Scud missiles out of the sky. Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney commented, "A decade of gloom-and-gloom reporting made a lot of people forget that we do, in fact, lead the world in advanced technology." The Patriots, made by Raytheon, hit 45 of the 47 Scuds launched by Iraq. It is a complex weapon utilizing sophisticated radar and electronics and requiring quick thinking by soldiers who operate it. While our media couldn't ignore the Patriot's success, the Gannett news service was one of the...

USA proposes $9bn Patriot anti-missile sale to UAE By Graham Warwick US Congress has been notified of the possible sale of Raytheon Patriot air defence systems to the United Arab Emirates, potentially worth up to $9 billion. The proposed sale includes nine Patriot fire units with 10 phased-array radars, 37 launching stations and 288 Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles plus 216 Guidance Enhanced Missiles-T (GEM-T). PAC-3 missiles are manufactured by Lockheed Martin and GEM/T by Raytheon. PAC-3 is designed specifically for use against theatre ballistic missiles, while the GEM/T is a PAC-2 missile with improved capability against TBMs as well...

TAIPEI (AFP) - Taiwan's plan for a huge US arms purchase may finally win parliamentary approval after the military agreed to trim its cost by more than four billion dollars, officials said. The cabinet withdrew from parliament a bill calling for the purchase of 480 billion Taiwan dollars (15 billion US) worth of weaponry from the United States over a 15-year period, in what was seen as a concession to the opposition. The defense ministry said it would submit a new version of the bill to cabinet next week before it goes to parliament. Eight conventional submarines and a fleet...

TOKYO (AFP) - The United States has concluded a deal to allow Japan's licensed production of US-developed surface-to-air missiles which will constitute the core of a joint missile defense system, a report said. The two governments sealed a memorandum of understanding in March on the licensed production of Patriot Advanced Capability 3 (PAC-3) interceptor missiles, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported in its evening edition. US Lockheed Martin Corp. is expected to sign a contract within the current fiscal year which ends in March 2006 to license Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. with PAC-3 production, the influential daily said. Officials were not...

Iskander-E 'designed to counter Western TMDs' By ALON BEN-DAVID JDW Correspondent Tel Aviv Russia's Iskander-E short-range ballistic missile is designed to defeat Western ballistic missile defence systems, particularly the Patriot Advanced Capability PAC-2/3 low-to-high altitude air-defence system, according to Uzi Rubin, former director of Israel's Missile Defence Agency. The Iskander-E is the export version of the Kolomna-designed 9M72 short-range ballistic missile currently in service with the Russian Armed Forces. The 9M72 has a given range of 400 km; Iskander-E a given range of 280 km. Following a 21 February Russian TV report, which presented the missile's features, Rubin concluded that...

Japanese Defense Agency Proposes Changes to Military Response Options (c) NavLog, 2004 In late November, Japanese Defense Agency Director-General Yoshinori Ono proposed legal revisions to increase the speed with which the JSDF could respond to a missile attack from another country. In an interview held in Washington, DC, Ono said his agency planned to submit such a proposal -- during the regular session of the Diet in January – as a set of amendments to laws covering SDF mobilization. Under current law, members of the Cabinet and Japan's Security Council must approve a JSDF mobilization, which must then be ordered...

A military investigation has concluded that a "friendly fire" incident in which a Navy pilot was shot down and killed by U.S. forces during the spring 2003 invasion of Iraq occurred because operators at two Patriot missile batteries and a command center all mistakenly took his F/A-18 Hornet for an incoming Iraqi missile, the U.S. Central Command said last night. The April 2003 incident was one of two during the campaign in which Patriot anti-missile batteries mistakenly hit allied aircraft. In the other, in late March 2003, a Patriot destroyed a British Tornado GR4 fighter-bomber near the border of Iraq...

THESE IS HOW OUR MILITARY WAS DECIMATED UNDER (COMMANDER IN CHIEF)CLINTON, SUPPORTED 100% BY JOHN KERRY (THESE VOTES HE DID SHOW UP FOR). THEIR TERRIBLE JUDGMENT IS WHY OUR MILITARY IS STRETCHED NOW...ALL DUE TO THE DEMOCRAT PARTY LEADERSHIP (I USE THE TERM LOOSELY). Send to all...people need to know what they're voting for. 709,000 REGULAR (ACTIVE DUTY) PERSONNEL. 293,000 RESERVE TROOPS. EIGHT STANDING ARMY DIVISIONS! 20 AIR FORCE AND NAVY AIR WINGS WITH 2,000 COMBAT AIRCRAFT 232 STRATEGIC BOMBERS. 9 STRATEGIC BALLISTIC MISSILE SUBMARINES WITH 3,114 NUCLEAR WARHEADS ON 232 MISSILES. 500 ICBMs WITH 1,950 WARHEADS. FOUR AIRCRAFT CARRIERS...

For the second time in two days, an American Patriot missile defence battery has apparently locked its sights on a coalition fighter plane, raising fears that the system's targeting software is infected with a deadly glitch. United States defence officials said on Tuesday that a Patriot system about 48 kilometres south of Najaf apparently locked on to a US Air Force F-16 fighter on Monday and prepared to fire. The F-16 responded by firing a high-speed anti-radiation missile at the battery and destroying its radar dish. No one was injured.The incident came a day after a Patriot missile shot down...