Word: patrioteer
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...generosity of its allies. But the expense of maintaining peace in the Persian Gulf will scarcely end once the guns fall silent. Even if Pentagon planners decide against replacing most lost equipment, the services are likely to clamor for more high-tech weapons like the Stealth fighters and Patriot antimissile systems, which have become media stars of the conflict. Moreover, the U.S. will probably need to keep a large garrison force in the region. Washington may soon have to stop dithering and decide how to meet the bills for Operation Desert Storm that are coming due today -- and tomorrow...
...biggest uncertainties before the war started was how the Patriot system would fare. The antimissile missile is guided by a sophisticated phased-array radar consisting of more than 5,000 radar antenna elements that can detect and track 100 targets at a time and follow any given one far more rapidly than the rotating cone of conventional radar. But the system had never been tested against a Scud...
During the first week of the war, the Patriot performed better than had been expected, hitting 95% of its targets as opposed to the 60% experts had predicted. But the system, which was designed as an antiaircraft weapon and later modified to shoot down missiles, is not infallible. Many of the Scuds that got through last week were actually struck by Patriots but not destroyed. Investigators say part of the problem seems to be that Scuds tend to break up as they re-enter the atmosphere. In at least one case, a Patriot struck the tail end of a disintegrating...
...sites -- that is, silos -- were believed to have been taken out in the first attack. Within hours, American planes had destroyed six of the truck launchers, three with missiles inside. One other Scud missile had been launched earlier against Saudi Arabia, but was blown up in midair by a Patriot antimissile missile. That was another technological triumph, the first known time that an attack missile had been destroyed by a defensive missile in combat...
...telephoned Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, Bush at 3 a.m. Washington time, to plead again for restraint. After the Israeli Cabinet met in a concrete bunker on Saturday, the government once more assured Washington that it would not retaliate now. The U.S. installed in Israel two batteries of the Patriot antimissiles, manned by American servicemen, the first time the U.S. had participated directly in Israel's defense. The government said it would see whether that provided sufficient protection...