ABSTRACT

Patriot is the Army's first-line air and missile defense (AMD) system. The system has been in the active force since the mid-1980s, but has been upgraded numerous times since first fielded. Patriot was intended as a defense against conventional air-breathing threats (ABTs). The chapter discusses the impact of complexity on a system's users. When considering human performance topics in a system of systems setting similar to Patriot, one cannot avoid the issues of system complexity and the impact of complexity on system users. The chapter describes the four challenges facing developers of complex systems: automation; training and job preparation; test and evaluation; and incorporating the lessons of experience. It argues that the Patriot system is more representative of systems the Army will acquire than of current systems. Patriot's problems during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) portend human performance issues that might accompany systems now on the drawing board.