Archie to SAM: A Short Operational History of Ground-Based Air ...

BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE
warhead detonated. 65 Nevertheless, the overall death rate was
less than one killed for each missile fired. 66
The political power of the Scud far exceeded its military impact.
The Israelis were not about to stand by as Iraqi missiles
showered their cities with death and destruction. If they intervened,
however, the carefully constructed coalition would
quickly unravel, which, of course, was what the Iraqis desired. 67
Although the Israelis rejected American aid before the shooting
started, they changed everything after the firing of the first
Scud. The Israelis quickly requested both American Patriot
missiles and identification friend or foe codes to allow their
aircraft to strike Iraqi targets without tangling with coalition
aircraft. The United States quickly agreed to the first request
but refused the second. However, American decision makers
understood that the Scud menace had to be contained to keep
the Israelis out of the conflict. 68 One important element in this
effort was the Army’s Patriot.
The Patriot
The Army had been concerned about defense against tactical
ballistic missiles since the V-2s appeared in World War II. As already
related, the ground service had conducted a number of
various projects to accomplish this goal. In August 1965, DOD
established a project office at the Redstone Arsenal for the system
that was renamed SAM-D (surface-to-air missile development).
The Army wanted a system that was mobile, included an
antimissile capability, and could replace its Hawk and Nike-
Hercules missiles. To be clear, the missile was designed mainly
as a point defense weapon (meaning it had limited range) against
relatively lower-flying and lower-speed aircraft rather than
against much higher- and faster-flying ballistic missiles.
There were various efforts to cancel the program. The Army
responded by simplifying the technology and cutting costs. More
to the point, in 1974 DOD dropped the BMD requirement to save
money. Now SAM-D was to be strictly a mobile SAM to counter
aircraft. In May 1976, the program was renamed Patriot (phasedarray
tracking to intercept of target), which was a rather strained
acronym. However, some say this was intended to please in-
202