Roll-out of the First Upgraded PATRIOT Group
On 24 July 2008, BWB Vice President Stein received the first PATRIOT Group from the Chief Executive of the company LFK and handed it over to General Fürst, Chief of Staff Air Force Command in a formal act taking place at Landsberg Air Base, the garrison of Surface-to-Air Missile Group 22. It is the first system that was modified according to the specifications of Growth Program 2.
Thus Air Wing 5 has a state-of-the-art weapon system capable of meeting the present and future air defense requirements which are becoming increasingly demanding.
The core piece of Growth Program 2 is the new guided missile PAC-3 with its hit-to-kill capability. For its effective use, a further development of the radar was necessary in addition to the upgrading of the launching stations. Furthermore, the air defense system has been equipped with an ultramodern telecommunication and data processing system.
For this purpose, the communication network PATRIOT as well as the software for “air defense system operational command and control” were developed within only 18 months. Both were not only installed in the PATRIOT shelter but also in the SAMOC. Thus the German Air Defense now has an interconnected command and control capability over three levels, definitely superseding marker pens and other manual tools. Pioneering work was also done in the field of Voice over IP telephony. Here, the first Voice over IP net of the Bundeswehr came into existence, which is not only suitable for mobile systems but also capable of transmitting classified information using SINA technology.
The proof of these and further capabilities was delivered during the operational test at Landsberg Air Base. From March to July this year, a system network with up to 90 shelters was thoroughly examined and accepted.
The PATRIOT weapon system has been in use since 1989 and already underwent the first upgrade in the nineties. The continuous extension of the threat scenario, especially regarding the ballistic missiles with a range of up to 1000 km, made a further upgrade inevitable.
