On february 25, 1991, iraq successfully launched a scud missile that hit a u. The patriot missile battery at dhahran had been in operation for. The scud struck an american army barracks and killed 28 soldiers and more than. Ppo receives israeli data identifies a 20% shift in the rga after 8 hrs 20 hours running brings to 50% shift, i. A patriot missile battery operates slightly differently depending on whether it is firing pac2 or pac3 missiles. Patriot missile defense software problems led to systems failure at dhahran, saudi arabia, gao report february, 1992, b247094. The patriot missile program was developed by the us missile defense agency, which transferred operation to the us army in 2003.
Patriot missile defense software problem led to system failure at dhahran, saudi arabia, gao report, general accounting office, washington dc, february 4, 1992. Contemporary issues in cs a study of the software failure in the patriot missile system. On february 25, 1991, during the gulf war, an american patriot missile battery in. Many software bugs are merely annoying or inconvenient but some can have extremely serious consequences either financially or as a threat to human wellbeing. While deployed with the us army, i witnessed a successful scud hit over dhahranal khobar in 1991. But, as is the case in any failure of a complex system, many factors may have contributed to the failure of. February 11, 1991, the israeli forces inform the patriot project office about a defect found in the patriot surfacetoair missile defense system. Patriot missile software failure aly farahat 1282009 cs5090 2 background antimissile system surfacetoair mobile air defense system developed by raytheon 1282009 cs5090 3 defends against aircrafts cruise missiles short range ballistic missiles. The patriot missile system has been deployed in many situations because it is able to shoot down enemy missiles e. The patriot missile battery defending the area never even fired at the incoming scud.
Each case study covers a separate accident in which software failure has been identified as the primary cause of the accident leading to the loss of human life. Page 1 gaoamtec9226 patriot missile software problem. Kari hawkins amcom the patriot missile system is a landbased, mobile missile defense interceptor. Army barracks of the 14th quar termaster detachment out of greensburg, pennsylvania, killing 28 soldiers. Software problem led to system failure at dhahran, saudi arabia corporate author or publisher. Februar 1991, w ahrend des ersten golfkrieges, versagte ein patriot. The initial reporting of the cause of this bug was incorrect. An attack in saudi arabia shows raytheons patriot missile. Patriot missile failure thursday, march th, 2014 by michael barr during the gulf war, twentyeight u. During the conflict, the patriots software was modified six times. Labeled patriot antitactical ballistic missile capability, phase 1 pac1, the first of the software upgrades was tested by the army at white sands missile range, new mexico, in 1986. Ppt patriot missile failure powerpoint presentation free.
Putting it all together patriot missile battery howstuffworks. May 10, 2017 the patriot missile system was mostly successful with intercepting its targets during the first gulf war. The software error wiki alludes to is that the patriot missile kept track of its internal clock with floating point numbers. On february 25, 1991 a patriot missile battery failed to intercept an incoming scud missile aimed at an army barracks in dhahran, saudi arabia. The weapon was widely used by the iraqi army during the iraniraq war and the gulf war of 1991. The missile was the result of upgrading the soviet made scud in order to achieve a longer range. The patriot missile system was mostly successful with intercepting its targets during the first gulf war. On february 25, 1991, during the gulf war, an american patriot missile battery in dharan, saudi arabia, failed to. Mtriot missile software problem led dhahran, saudi arabia. We will look at the operation of the pac2 missile first. Eventually, the army attributed the patriot missile failure in dhahran to a software failure in the computer as a result of long use of the radar system u. Patriot missile software problem unc computer science. Scud missile missed by the patriot 1991 ariane 5 crash 1996.
Software problems led to system failure at dhahran. The anmpq53 at the heart of the system is known as the phased array tracking radar to intercept on target which is a. General accounting office gao imtec9226 entitled patriot missile defense. Software problem led to system failure at dhahran, saudi arabia reported on the cause of the failure. To predict where the scud will next appear, both time and. The patriot missile failure in dharan, saudi arabia, on february 25, 1991 which resulted in 28 deaths, is ultimately attributable to poor handling of rounding errors. The patriot defense system had failed to track and intercept the scud. The patriot level1 antitactical missile atm or patriot advanced capability1 pac1 primarily consisted of software changes allowing for the interceptors to be used to defend against shortrange ballistic missiles srbms and it was deployed in europe in 1988. Causal analysis of the 1991 patriot missile system failure. The computer failure that blinded a patriot missile defense system to an iraqi missile. Failure occured during night of february 25 1991 when a scud missile fired from iraq hit a us army barracks in saudi arabia, killing 29 soldiers.
A booster went off course during launch, resulting in the destruction of nasa mariner 1. They discovered that running the system for consecutive 8 hours resulted in a 20% targeting precision loss, and. This was the result of the failure of a transcriber to notice an overbar in a written specification for the guidance program, resulting in the coding of an incorrect formula in its fortran software. Why the patriot missile might fail americas military the. The anmpq53 at the heart of the system is known as the phased array.
Since the mid1960s, the system has evolved to defend against aircraft and cruise missiles, and more recently against shortrange ballistic missiles. The patriot missile system was deployed by the us during operation desert storm. Causal analysis of the 1991 patriot missile system failure peter bernard ladkin 20150511 the incident the us general accounting office reported to the chair of the house committee on oversight and investigations in february 1992 on the failure of a patriot antimissile system to engage and destroy an incoming hostile scud missile at a base in. The scud struck an american army barracks, killing 28 soldiers and injuring around 100 other people. Ppt patriot missile failure powerpoint presentation. Details flaw in patriot missile the new york times. But just before the 1991 gulf war, its manufacturer, raytheon, modified the patriot to. Essays for the information age kutztown university of. Why did patriot missile system fail during persian gulf war. Jun 06, 1991 the computer failure that blinded a patriot missile defense system to an iraqi missile that killed 28 americans during the persian gulf war was similar to a problem discovered in another patriot. February 11, 1991, the israeli forces inform the patriot. Software problem led to system failure at dhahran, saudi arabia provides a nice concise writeup of the problem. Included in this report is prefatory background on how the patriot system is designed to work. Why did patriot missile system fail during persian gulf.
A free powerpoint ppt presentation displayed as a flash slide show on id. When the machine had been booted in the recent past, such as every time in testing, the floating point number spent most of its precision to the right of the decimal point. Some bugs have wreaked disaster, embarrassment and. The mim104 patriot is a surfacetoair missile sam system, the primary of its kind used by the united states army and several allied nations. Patriot missile longrange airdefence system, us army. A report of the general accounting office, gaoimtec9226, entitled patriot missile defence. Patriot missile defense weapon software failure on february 25, 1991, during operation desert storm, a patriot missile defense system operating in dhahran, saudi arabia failed to track and destroy an incoming enemy scud missile. The scud struck an american army barracks and killed 28 soldiers. This time we will talk about reliability of embedded software in military equipment. This scud subsequently hit an army barracks, killing 28 americans. The computer failure that blinded a patriot missile defense system to an iraqi missile that killed 28 americans during the persian gulf war was similar to a problem discovered in another patriot.
Patriot missile batteries were activated several times in the iraqi war and were used extensively in the 1991 gulf war. The patriot missile interceptor malfunctions and misses. Patriot missile defense failure caused by loss of precision. The message also said a software change was being sent that would improve the systems targeting. The patriot missile failure sahand university of technology. The patriot works by locking its ground radar on an incoming missile and relaying the signals to a computer at a control station that tracks the targets speed, trajectory and predicted course. Patriot missile software failure aly farahat 1282009 cs5090 2 background antimissile system. The patriot missile failure ber uhm tber uc htigte softwarefehler seminar ss 2003. Data does not exist to conclusively say how well patriot performed report by general accounting office, september 1992, b250335. In february 1991 during the first gulf war, an american patriot missile system in dharan, saudi arabia, failed to intercept and track an incoming iraqi scud missile. February software modifications introduced the rga bug feb 11. But, as is the case in any failure of a complex system, many factors may have contributed to the failure of the patriot missile to reliably perform its duty. May 20, 1991 the patriot works by locking its ground radar on an incoming missile and relaying the signals to a computer at a control station that tracks the targets speed, trajectory and predicted course.
Patriot missile software failure, 28 soldiers died. On february 25, 1991, a patriot missile defense system operating at dhahran, saudi arabia, during operation desert storm failed to track and intercept an incoming scud. Abstract on february 25, 1991, a patriot missile defence system op erating in. During the 1991 1992 operation desert storm conflict between coalition forces and iraq, the coalition used a military base in dhahran, saudi arabia that was protected by six u. The cause of the failure was later found to be a programming error in the computer embedded in the patriot s weapons control system.
A report of the general accounting office, gaoimtec9226, entitled patriot missile defense. In that year a patriot missile, guided by special developmental software, intercepted an army lance surfacetosurface tactical missile. Failure to correct problems led to friendly fire deaths. Patriot missile failure the alpha patriot battery did not track and intercept the scud. Mar 24, 2014 on february 21, 1991, the patriot project office sent a message to patriot users stating that very long run times could cause a shift in the range gate, resulting in the target being offset. The patriot missile failure university of minnesota. The radar antenna scans the sky looking for incoming targets. Far enough that the incoming scud was outside the range gate that patriot tracked. It should be pointed out that the patriot missile was originally designed to be a mobile system and not used as a antiballistic system. Patriot missile defense system operation desert storm dhahran saudi arabia scud army barracks software. America risks entering into a war with the mistaken belief that it has a shield against the enemys missiles when all it has is a sieve. The following is a list of software bugs with significant consequences.
The patriot defense system consists of an electronic detection device called the range gate. Patriots had to be shut down for at least 1 to 2 hours to install each software modification. On february 25, 1991, during the gulf war, an american patriot missile battery in dharan, saudi arabia, failed to track and intercept an incoming iraqi scud missile. Jun 02, 2008 patriot missile defense software problem led to system failure at dhahran, saudi arabia, gao report, general accounting office, washington dc, february 4, 1992. In 1995, 1996 and 2000, the patriot underwent three stages of major upgrades known as the pac3 configuration to increase its antiballistic missile capability. Round off errors and the patriot missile the numerical. Page 6 gaoimtec9226 patriot missile software problem. Mar 30, 2018 a march 25 missile attack launched on saudi arabia by iranianbacked houthi rebels in yemen provided another test of the usbuilt patriot missile system, which it apparently failedcell phone. On february 25, 1991, an iraqi scud hit the barracks in dhahran, saudi.
Twentyeight americans were killed on february 25, 1991 when an iraqi scud hit the army barracks in dhahran, saudi arabia. General accounting office, gao, washington, dc 20548 report number. When the scud missile hit the barracks 28 soldiers lost their lives and 99 were wounded. It should be pointed out that the patriot missile was originally designed to be a. Due to the failure of the equipment, the missile hit an army barracks and killed 28 americans. W i t h t h e 3 2 n d a r m y a i r m i s s i l e d e f e n s e, march 18, 2003 in 1991, during the early days of operation desert storm, president george h. The patriot got multiple system and software improvements, a new radar and a new missile almost fully designed to engage ballistic targets, the pac3. The patriot missile failure on february 25, 1991, during the gulf war, an american patriot missile battery in dharan, saudi arabia, failed to track and intercept an incoming iraqi scud missile. The missile defence system can detect, track and engage unmanned aircraft, cruise missiles, and shortrange and tactical ballistic missiles. On february 25, 1991, during the gulf war, an american patriot missile battery in dharan, saudi arabia, failed to intercept an incoming iraqi scud missile. Although the patriot suffered software problems in tests during 1982 and 1983, the program drew fire on capitol hill, not for waste, mismanagement or failure to perform, but for its insistently. It turns out that the cause was an inaccurate calculation of the time since boot due to computer arithmetic errors. On february 25, 1991, the last day of the gulf war where large military actions occurred, a scud missile struck u.
Patriot system failed to track the skud missile and never launched. Sep 06, 2010 the software error wiki alludes to is that the patriot missile kept track of its internal clock with floating point numbers. This was the largest single loss of life among coalition forces in that war. On february 21, 1991, the patriot project office sent a message to patriot users stating that very long run times could cause a shift in the range gate, resulting in the target being offset. Background the patriot is an army surfacetoair, mobile, air defense missile system. Why the patriot missile might fail americas military.
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