Number of Launchers and Missiles

fretburner

Banned Member
I just came across this article and it says...

Since a Patriot missile battery can have up to 16 launchers, and there are also spare missiles to re-supply the launchers as missiles are fired, you can see that deploying a Patriot missile battery is not a small endeavor.

So if the a "full" PAC3 battery is deployed, it can have 16x16 = 256 missiles plus whatever the re-supply vehicles are carrying?

How many launchers and missiles "loaded" are there in a typical modern SAM/ABM battery? e.g. How many missiles for a THAAD battery? S-300/400? etc...
 

kato

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
6 to 8 launchers in any battery for such systems is standard, you rarely see smaller, pretty much never bigger batteries. THAAD has six launchers per battery*, Patriot has eight, S-300 six to eight depending on country.

In the US, resupply for Patriot batteries is handled by their battalion with missile transports detached to the batteries (see FM 3-01-85). The batteries do not have organic transport units, but only launchers. Iirc the battalion has eight M985 in total, could be more though.

* During initial fielding three launchers per battery, now being upgraded to six each; eight missiles stocked per launcher.
 

STURM

Well-Known Member
S-300 six to eight depending on country.
If I'm not mistaken, someone here mentioned before that the Russians organise their
S-300s into battalions rather than batteries, each containing 'x' amount of launchers.

During the Cold War, how many launchers were there per battery for Soviet SAMs like Gainful, Goa and Guideline?

And what about the U.S. army's Hawks? BAE Systems offers the Jernas in batteries containing 3 launchers, so I assume it was the same with the Rapier.
 

fretburner

Banned Member
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
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6 to 8 launchers in any battery for such systems is standard, you rarely see smaller, pretty much never bigger batteries. THAAD has six launchers per battery*, Patriot has eight,
That's 128 PAC3 missiles "loaded". That's like having a Burke destroyer on land!

S-300 six to eight depending on country.
An S-300 launcher has 4 missiles each right?

In the US, resupply for Patriot batteries is handled by their battalion with missile transports detached to the batteries (see FM 3-01-85). The batteries do not have organic transport units, but only launchers. Iirc the battalion has eight M985 in total, could be more though.

* During initial fielding three launchers per battery, now being upgraded to six each; eight missiles stocked per launcher.
How many batteries in a battalion?
And why only 8 missiles per launcher when it can carry 16? Is it a weight issue?
 
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