Operation Desert Storm: Data Does Not Exist to Conclusively Say How Well PatriotPerformed

摘要

On April 7,1992, we testified before your Subcommittee that the Project Manager'sclaims of the Patriot's success during Operation Desert Storm were not supported by the data. The Army had also recognized the limitations of its assessment, and a few days prior to the Subcommittee's hearings, the Army revised its assessment. Among other things, the revised assessment reduced the number of engagements judged to be successful and assigned a confidence level of high, medium, or low to each successful engagement. As you requested, we reviewed the available information on the engagements that the Army is highly confident resulted in the destruction or disabling of Scud warheads. Our objective was to determine whether the Army's revised assessment of the Patriot's performance in these engagements is supported by the data.