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Rockets and Missiles
•MIM-104 Patriot
•A land mobile, medium-to high-altitude, surface-to-air guided missile system.
•The Patriot is capable of defeating tactical ballistic missiles and submarine-launched cruise missiles in an intense electronic defense environment with multiple formations through the 1990s.
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MIM-104 Patriot
A land mobile, medium-to high-altitude, surface-to-air guided missile system.  The Patriot is being adopted for the anti-tactical missile role.  The MIM-104 Patriot program began in 1963 as the Army Air Defense System 1970 (AADS-70) in an attempt to develop a supplement to the MIM-23B Improved HAWK and a replacement for the MIM-14B Nike-Hercules missile system.
In August 1965 the program was renamed Surface-to-Air Missile/ Development, and handed over to the U.S. Army management.  The program was renamed Patriot in May 1976.  Patriot has been operational with the U.S. Army since December 1984.
The Patriot production rate increased to meet the demand for U.S. force modernization and the fighting in the Persian Gulf (1990-1991).  The Patriot is capable of defeating tactical ballistic missiles and submarine-launched cruise missiles in an intense electronic defense environment with multiple formations through the 1990s.
Developed to counter the future threat without employing nuclear warheads.  The role is to defend high-value targets in rear areas against high-performance aircraft.  The system was designed to operate under all weather conditions and to destroy maneuvering aircraft at all altitudes.