Patriot missiles in Operation Desert Storm Theodore Postol

the patriot missile used in operation desert storm intercept descent-phase scud missiles fired iraq. u.s. army claimed success rate of 80% in saudi arabia , 50% in israel, claims later reduced 70% , 40%. president george h. w. bush claimed success rate of more 97 percent during speech @ raytheon s patriot manufacturing plant in andover, massachusetts during gulf war, declaring, patriot 41 42: 42 scuds engaged, 41 intercepted! in april 1992, postol told house committee patriot s intercept rate during gulf war low. evidence these preliminary studies indicates patriot s intercept rate lower 10 percent, possibly zero. postol later went on criticize army s independent analysis of video tapes assess patriot effectiveness being compromised selective , arbitrary use of data. house government operations committee investigation in 1992 concluded that, contrary military claims on effectiveness, patriot missiles destroyed 9 percent of scud missiles during attempts @ interception.