Inadequate U.S. Patriot Missile Force Size Highlighted By Middle East Crisis
There are not enough Patriot batteries to go around, especially if a crisis in the Pacific were to break out.
BY
JOSEPH TREVITHICK, TYLER ROGOWAY
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PUBLISHED OCT 30, 2023 7:00 PM EDT
Asignificant portion of the U.S. Army's Patriot surface-to-air missile force have been or are in the process of being deployed to the Middle East in response to the ongoing Israel-Gaza crisis. This is in addition to many other obligations around the globe. Though this reflects the immense ability of the U.S. military to project power worldwide, it also underscores the stark limitations of its existing ground-based air and missile defense capacity.
Concerns about what this means for the prospect of adequately defending U.S. forces deployed overseas, as well as the U.S. homeland, is something senior U.S. military leaders, as well as The War Zone, have been drawing attention to for some time.
Since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas launched its unprecedented attacks on southern Israel on October 7, the U.S. military has announced the deployment of a slew of forces to the Middle East, including two aircraft carrier strike groups, a Marine Expeditionary Unit, and multiple squadrons of U.S. Air Force combat jets. A senior U.S. defense official confirmed to The War Zone and other outlets today that two full Patriot battalions are among other additional Army air and missile defenses that have also been rushing to the region. U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon's top spokesperson had said last week that the Patriot units would come from Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg) in North Carolina and Fort Sill in Oklahoma.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/inadequate-u-s-patriot-missile-force-size-highlighted-by-middle-east-crisis
