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Ukraine downed a hypersonic missile with a Patriot. What that says about the future of weapons

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rangerrebew:
Ukraine downed a hypersonic missile with a Patriot. What that says about the future of weapons
Weapons makers say the Pentagon has made progress on innovation, but still has work to do.
PATRICK TUCKER | SEPTEMBER 20, 2023
CONGRESS PENTAGON TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY
   
The Defense Department is finally learning some key lessons on innovation, getting away from big, expensive programs that produce overly sophisticated weapons and moving toward buying arms faster and more cheaply, representatives from Anduril, Saildrone, and Lockheed Martin told lawmakers Wednesday.

The department is also discovering how new software can increase the value of things it already has. But the Pentagon still has work to do in setting universal standards and prioritizing low-cost, modular-software-based approaches to making weapons, they said during a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing.

New software can can improve older systems, Lockheed CEO James Taiclet said, citing the Patriot missiles recently sent to Ukraine. In May, Ukrainian forces shocked the world when they used the Patriot—invented in the 1970s, upgraded many times since—to down a Russian hypersonic Kinzhal, a missile Putin had touted as “invincible”.

https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2023/09/what-ukraines-shoot-down-hypersonic-missile-patriot-says-about-future-weapons/390498/

rangerrebew:

--- Quote from: rangerrebew on September 22, 2023, 11:47:33 am --- What that says about the future of weapons
 
--- End quote ---

What that says is Biden will probably scrap the Patriot because it shot down a Russian hypersonic missile.

PeteS in CA:
The Patriot missile, MIM-104A, came into service in 1981. The MIM-104C is the (more than twice) twice upgraded system that was used in the 1991 Gulf War. The current versions, incorporating quite a few further upgrades, are the MIM-104F and MIM-104F MSE (Missile Segment Enhancement).

The big news in the Ukraine story is how much the Patriot system could be upgraded over the 40+ years of its service life so far, and that Putin's vaunted hypersonic missile could be shot down using a version of the Patriot that is already deployed (I wonder whether the Patriot system used was a MIM-104F MSE, or a down-rev E or D model).

Fishrrman:
The title reads:
"Ukraine downed a hypersonic missile with a Patriot"

I'm wondering if what really happened is:
"American soldiers operating undercover within Ukraine downed a hypersonic missile with a Patriot"
???

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