The US federal authorities have authorized the Kingdom of Bahrain to acquire two complete batteries of the PATRIOT PAC-3 anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense system, for an amount close to $ 2,5 billion, following Manama's request made in beginning of the month of May. Bahrain will be the 6th country in the Middle East to deploy the Raytheon system, after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Israel, representing half of the PAC-3 operators in the world.
Despite sometimes questionable performance, the PAC-3 has established itself as the anti-aircraft and especially anti-missile system of choice for the United States' allies. In 2018, it also achieved numerous successes, winning successively in Poland, Sweden and Romania, even though the Europeans were offering the SAMP/T Mamba system, similar if not superior to the PAC-3 in many ways. areas, and yet unhappy in all the competitions in which he participated so far.
It should be noted that if the PATRIOT PAC-3 is indeed effective against Iranian copies of the SCUD or DF-3 ballistic missiles, it appears incapable, today, of facing modern ballistic missiles, such as the Russian Iskander, or against hypersonic systems, such as the Kinjhal.