PENTAGON: PAC-3 INTERCEPTED ALL MISSILES IN IRAQ

WASHINGTON [MENL] — The U.S. Defense Department maintains that the Patriot missile defense system intercepted all Iraqi short-range missiles fired toward Kuwait during the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

Missile Defense Agency director Lt.Gen. Ronald Kadish told the House Strategic Forces subcommittee recently that the PAC-3 and the earlier PAC-2 intercepted all of the Iraqi missiles that threatened to strike Kuwaiti or U.S. installations in the sheikdom during the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

“Based on the available data, the Patriot system, including PAC-3, successfully intercepted all threatening short-range ballistic missiles during Operation Iraqi Freedom last year,” Kadish said.

The assertion by the agency director was the first time that a senior Pentagon official reported a 100 percent interception rate of the Patriot system. About a dozen Iraqi short-range missiles were fired toward Kuwait in late March and early April 2003.