The United States will deploy a Patriot battery, four Sentinel radars, and approximately 200 support personnel to Saudi Arabia, the US Department of Defense announced on 26 September.
An image from Northrop Grumman shows how a Patriot battery can intercept a cruise missile that its radar cannot see because of the terrain by using the company's Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS) to network Sentinel radars deployed in locations where they can track an incoming threat. (Northrop Grumman)
“This deployment will augment the kingdom’s air and missile defense of critical military and civilian infrastructure,” it said. There was no indication of when or where the Patriot and Sentinels will be deployed.
The statement said additional forces that include two more Patriot batteries and a Terminal High Altitude Defense System (THAAD) had been ordered to maintain a heightened state of readiness to deploy to the kingdom if needed.
The US already has at least one Patriot deployed at Prince Sultan Air Base in Al-Kharj in central Saudi Arabia, which arrived in July as part of a wider US effort to deter Iranian attacks.
US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford announced on 20 September that the US would deploy additional air-defence assets to Saudi Arabia in the wake of the cruise missile and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks on oil facilities six days earlier.
“The attack on 14 September against Saudi Arabian oil facilities represents a dramatic escalation of Iranian aggression,” Esper said. “All indications are that Iran was responsible for the attack.”
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