Russian S-400 advantages over the American Patriot SAM System

Original unedited photos courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The American company Raytheon proudly proclaims on their official website that their MIM-104 Patriot Surface to Air Missile (SAM) system is able “to detect, identify and defeat Tactical Ballistic Missiles, Cruise Missiles, Drones, Advanced Aircraft and Other Threats”.

However, after the debacle recently when their Patriot system was unable to stop a Drone/Cruise Missile attack on Saudi Arabia from the Houthis/Iran, suddenly a lot of articles have come up comparing it over the Russian S-400 system that I decided to try to collect some of them into a single article. Here are some of the findings I have found thus far of the S-400’s advantages over the Patriot:

* The S-400’s radar antenna rotates while in operation and has 360 degree coverage whereas the Patriot’s AN/MPQ-53/65 Radar antenna does not and can only be pointed in one area of the sky at a time with a field of view of only 120 degrees. This means the Patriot can only cover the general direction where it was setup in. If the enemy is able to move to its blind spot, it can evade detection by it.

* S-400 missiles have a longer range of 400 km versus the only 160 km of the Patriot’s missiles.

* S-400 missiles can hit targets traveling twice as fast compared to the Patriot’s missiles.

* The S-400 can be setup in just five minutes while the Patriot takes around an hour to setup.

* The S-400 also integrates with the smaller Pantsir Gun/SAM system to shoot down low-flying aerial threats and help protect it from Anti-Radiation Missiles. The S-400’s radar can in fact feed data directly into the Pantsir. The Patriot on the other hand has no such equivalent, although it can be partnered in a less direct manner with a Short Range Air Defense System (ADS) as an option.

As can be seen with the S-400’s integration or “bundling” with the Pantsir, a multi-layer ADS is already part of the weapon’s doctrine or philosophy while with the Patriot it is more of just an option or a suggestion.

The Pantsir has been getting a lot of flak lately though because of its poor efficiency in terms of shooting down targets it was designed to shoot down. The Israelis also have shown videos of them taking them out. However, the older Tor system is reportedly doing a much better job than the Pantsir in terms of shooting down low level threats.

The SpyDer SAM system that the Philippine Air Force (PAF) is buying have more in common with the S-400 than the Patriot. Its radar provides full 360 degree coverage and it seems to be quick to set up also like the S-400.

Saudi Arabia does have other ADS also like the Skyguard (with new radars) and Shahines (improved version of the Crotale), but apparently these were not enough to defeat the aerial threats from the Houthis/Iran.

References: 
* Raytheon, Global Patriot Solutions
* Saudi Air Defences ill-prepared for low-level attacks
* Saudi Wealth and Weaponry still can't guarantee Oil's protection
* Does Russia Have a Weapon That Can Stop 'Swarm' Strikes?
* Is Russia's S-400 a Paper Tiger or a Real Air Force Killer?

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