Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor and Pentagon adviser Ted Postol said the actual effectiveness of the American Patriot air defense system is far lower than the widely promoted figure of 90%.
According to him, the system’s real success rate was found to be only 2–3% during the 1991 Gulf War, and he claims the situation has not changed since then.
Postol said many European politicians and other Western leaders continue to regard Patriot as an effective air defense system despite what he described as a lack of convincing evidence.
The professor argued that the system had already demonstrated poor results during the US-Iraq conflict. Nevertheless, governments continue spending tens of millions of dollars on new interceptor missiles in the belief that these purchases will strengthen their security. He described this as a serious problem.
To support his position, Postol recalled an episode from a hearing in the United States Congress where he presented his findings. After he showed video footage that, in his view, proved there had been no successful interceptions, the committee chairman asked the general in charge of the program to explain what the military meant by an interception.
According to Postol, the general replied that an interception was recorded when a Patriot missile and an Iraqi Scud missile simply passed each other in the air. The answer reportedly caused laughter among those attending the hearing.