Patriot/Medium Extended Air Defense System Combined Aggregate Program (Patriot/MEADS CAP).

摘要

The Patriot/Medium Extended Air Defense System Combined Aggregate Program (Patriot/MEADS CAP) represents the process through which the Patriot system transitions to MEADS. The MEADS program is a Tri- National co-development program among the United States, Germany, and Italy to replace the U.S. Patriot air defense systems, Patriot and Hawk systems in Germany, and the Nike system in Italy. The MEADS mission will provide Joint and Coalition forces with critical asset and defended area protection against multiple and simultaneous attacks by low-to-medium altitude Air and Missile Defense (AMD) with the capability to counter, defeat, or destroy Tactical Ballistic Missiles, Air-Breathing Threats to include cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, tactical air-to-surface missiles, and anti-radiation missiles. The Patriot system provides a combat demonstrated capability against these threats. MEADS will employ a netted distributed architecture with modular components to increase survivability and flexibility of employment in a number of operational configurations. The Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) missile, as evolved from the current PAC-3 missile's Cost Reduction Initiative (CRI) design, provides a more agile, lethal interceptor missile resulting in substantial missile performance improvement while enhancing Insensitive Munitions (IM) compliance.