The 'Outdated' Missile That Burned $2.4 Billion in 5 Days Defending US Bases From Iran

The MIM-104 Patriot missile system just delivered the largest air defense performance in modern warfare. During Operation Epic Fury, the 2026 US-Iran war, American Patriot batteries fired over 800 interceptors in five days, more than the entire Ukraine war combined, at a cost exceeding 2.4 billion dollars. Built by Raytheon in 1984 to shoot down Soviet bombers, the Patriot was called outdated, fraudulent, and obsolete. An MIT physicist testified its real intercept rate in the Gulf War was possibly zero. A software bug killed 28 American soldiers at Dhahran. Friendly fire incidents destroyed allied aircraft in Iraq. Saudi operators were filmed watching their own missiles crash into city streets. Then in February 2026, Iran launched the largest ballistic missile barrage ever directed at US forces across 11 bases in seven countries. The same system the world had written off stood between those missiles and the soldiers on those bases. Patriot batteries achieved a 90 percent intercept rate against ballistic missiles. Gulf states made over 2,150 interceptions. Half the American Patriot stockpile was gone in weeks. This documentary covers the complete history of the MIM-104 Patriot from its Cold War origins through every combat deployment, the Dhahran disaster, friendly fire in 2003, Ukraine's first hypersonic kill, the defense of Al Udeid in 2025, and the unprecedented interceptor expenditure of Operation Epic Fury. Every claim sourced. Every number verified. BritishWarRoyals covers military history and defense technology across all eras. Subscribe for daily documentaries. #Patriot #MIM104 #MissileDefense #OperationEpicFury #IranWar