Patriot MSE appears to have misfired in key air and missile defense test

摘要

The Army's most advanced Patriot interceptor appears to have misfired during a key test of the service's new air and missile defense system, requiring a back-up guided missile, an older Patriot variant, to chase and destroy a tactical ballistic missile target last week. During the second flight test of the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS) limited user test at White Sands Missile Range, NM, the latest-generation, hit-to-kill Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Enhancement Segment interceptor did not respond when IBCS directed the missile to launch, according to an Army official and Lockheed Martin, maker of the MSE Patriot variant.