wdo@INEL.GOV (william d orr) (06/12/91)
The June 3, 1991 Aviation Week and Space Technology had an article with some further information on the Patriot failure at Dhahran SA. pg 85 It stated that the patriot system software was operating at the edge of it's capability. The Scud missile that the system failed to track was travelling faster than the nominal Scud. this caused the algorithm failure because the conditions exceeded limits that we placed on the variables involved in computing target solutions. The result was that the system failed to see the missile as an engageable target and did not display the Scud. Even when the Patriot battery crew was notified by voice and data link of the incoming missile they were unable to engage since there was no target being displayed. The above was stated by a retired army officer from the Patriot project (retired on April 30). Also it was stated that the algorithm fix is complete and only took a couple of days once the cause was known. Past and even present Patriot system testing has not been able to recreate the conditions however. If what was stated in the article is factual it would appear that this failure was due to a software design problem rather than a shortfall of the language attributes. Bill ========== long legal disclaimer follows, press n to skip =========== Neither the United States Government or the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory or any of their employees, makes any warranty, whatsoever, implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility regarding any information, disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. No specific reference constitutes or implies endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the United States Government or the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes.