Possibilities of Growing US Army Patriot Missile Defense Force

According to a press briefing on August 8 given by the commander of Space and Missile Defense Command, the U.S. Army will expand the size of its Patriot air and missile defense force structure.

The Space and Missile Defense Command commander briefed the media on August 8 on the U.S. Army’s Patriot air and missile defense force structure will grow in size. (Photo: Real Clear Defense)

Demands placed on the Patriot force

At the Space and Missile Defense Symposium, Lt. Gen. Daniel Karbler stated that the Army’s highest commanders, from the secretary to the chief, are aware of the demands placed on the Patriot force. He continued by saying that they are addressing it by boosting the number of deployed Patriot units.

In an article from Army Times, Karbler declined to provide an exact number for the additional Patriot units the Army intends to field, stating he did not want to speak before senior Army leadership. He claimed that Congress had asked the Army to submit a report on its needs.

Patriot batteries in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2023. The Army now possesses 15 Patriot battalions in its active force, and funding has been approved to add one more.

Demands placed on the Army’s air defense unit have long been a problem for the organization. With deployment periods that occasionally exceeded the typical six- to nine-month rotations, Patriot units have historically held the record for the greatest operational tempos across the service for more than ten years.

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Karbler looking into chances for soldiers to come into the Patriot force

Despite wanting to expand air defense troops, the service is having difficulty attracting new recruits. According to Karbler, they will experience the same difficulties with enlistments and recruiting as the rest of the Army and other services. A young specialist may be encouraged to join the Army and the air defense branch by the Army using specific levers.

Based on Real Clear Defense, the Army has gotten some support, such as pay incentives and an effort to adhere to dwell restrictions, but the difficulty is finding air defenders, Karbler told Defense News at the same conference last year.

Karbler stated this year that looking into chances for soldiers who wish to re-enlist to enlist, to come into the Patriot force, is one way to recruit air defenders. I can’t conjure a sergeant out of thin air today, but I can persuade a young specialist to move to air defense with a reenlistment incentive.

These obstacles will prevent the Army from expanding the Patriot force structure as quickly as they would want in order to address some of the current tempo issues.

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