Footage Shows U.S. Patriot Air Defences Repeatedly Fail to Hit Iranian Ballistic Missiles
North America, Western Europe and Oceania , Missile and Space
Footage taken at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar has shown three interceptor missiles launched by MIM-104 Patriot long range air defence systems fail to shoot down incoming Iranian ballistic missiles. Iran launched strikes on February 28, after Israel and the United States initiated a coordinated large-scale military assault against the country. While Patriot units usually launch two missiles against each incoming target to ensure a high probability of kill, a third launch may have been intended to compensate for the lower than optimal reliability of the system. This itself remains an issue due to the very limited stocks of missiles the U.S. Armed Forces have, which in July 2025 were confirmed to have fallen to just 25 percent of the volume deemed necessary by the Pentagon.
The failure of Patriot systems closely coincides with confirmation that Iranian strikes destroyed key air defence radars at Al Udeid Air Base, which may be among several targets that have been hit at the facility as a result of the limitations of U.S. air defences. The reliability of the Patriot system has long been in serious question, with even very limited Iranian strikes on June 23, 2025, having proven capable of striking Al Udeid Air Base, despite using lower end Fateh-313 missiles, and in spite of prior warning of the attacks having been provided to the United States. Although U.S. officials at first praised the success of U.S. Army and Qatari Air Force Patriot systems that month, the release of satellite footage showing the destruction of a radome housing the modernisation enterprise terminal communications suite forced Pentagon sources to concede that they were not fully successful despite the optimal conditions in place.
The capabilities of the Patriot system have long been cause for considerable controversy, with the systems assessed to have almost totally failed against very basic Iranian Scud missile attacks during the Gulf War, before being a primary cause of friendly fire during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq firing on multiple U.S. fighter aircraft. Despite claims of success by U.S. and Saudi sources in intercepting Yemeni ballistic missile attacks in late 2017, an investigation quickly proved that they had totally failed. When deployed to guard Saudi oil fields, they were also totally unsuccessful in intercepting drone strikes launched by either Yemeni paramilitary units or by Iran in 2019. The effectiveness of the Patriot system against Russian missile attacks has increasingly been brought to question in the Ukrainian theatre, with Ukrainian and Western sources having for months warned that its ability to intercept attacks has been limited. Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Igor Ignat having on May 26 highlighted the system’s shortcomings in this regard, , while chief of communications for Ukrainian Air Force Command Yuri Ignat in early October confirmed that the service was facing growing challenges in intercepting Russian ballistic missile attacks.
Constructed in 1996 with Qatari funding, Al Udeid serves as one of the largest U.S. military bases outside the United States, and the largest U.S. air installation in the Middle East. The base hosts the forward headquarters of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), the U.S. joint command responsible for military operations across the Middle East, and houses the Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) which plans, directs, and controls coalition air operations across a wide region stretching from North Africa through Southwest and Central Asia. The base covers roughly 31 square kilometres, approximately twice the size of the primary hub of U.S. air operations in Europe Ramstein Air Base in Germany. The facility has at times operated close to 10,000 personnel, and played central roles in both years long offensives against Syria, and in the air campaign in Afghanistan up to 2021. Chinese satellite imagery in early February exposed the exact positions of an Army MIM-104 Patriot air defence system at the facility, before later confirming deployments of large numbers of support aircraft as part of the military buildup against Iran.
