Unmatched Performance on the Modern Battlefield

Stronger than ever, the Patriot®️ missile defense system continues to set global standards six decades later.

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A few days after deploying to Kuwait in January 1998, Nate Jones noticed something: Everyone at the U.S. Army vehicle maintenance shop in Camp Doha had a chemical protective mask close at hand – on their hip, on their shoulder or somewhere else where they could put it on at a moment’s notice.

The threat of chemical warfare with neighboring Iraq was high, and, until Jones and the rest of the Patriot Air and Missile Defense System crew arrived, so was the anxiety around the camp.

That changed in an instant when Jones introduced himself to the shop foreman.

“He shouted, ‘Thank God, the Patriot guys are here’,” said Jones, a former air defense warrant officer and now the director of European requirements and capabilities at Raytheon, an RTX business. “They removed their masks, and we got on with our business.”

That small moment of relief more than 25 years ago is among many similar stories in the now 60-year history of Patriot – a system that has become synonymous with missile defense, and that has been providing much-needed reassurance to the military personnel and civilians who live under its protection.

“I’ve deployed and operated Patriot worldwide under the harshest conditions,” Jones said. “It never let me down.”

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