Case Study: Patriot Missile Failure at Dhahran

18 August 2020 by Phillip Johnston • Last updated 15 August 2023An Iraqi Scud missile hit baracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, after a Patriot missile defense system failed to intercept the missile. The accident resulted in 28 U.S. soldiers killed and 98 soldiers wounded. The failure to intercept the missile was caused by a compounding software clock drift error resulting in a distance calculation error of 687 meters. Because of the drift and corresponding distance offset, the system determined that the missile was on a spurious track and did not fire. Further Information For more on the event and the …

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