A cargo ship traveling from Germany to Shanghai was found to hide 69 Patriot missiles and was intercepted via Finland.

According to a report by the Associated Press on December 21, Finnish police found 69 ground-to-air "Patriot" missiles on a cargo ship bound for Shanghai, China. The National Bureau of Investigation in Finland introduced that the ship was flying the British flag, named M/SThor Liberty, which departed from northern Germany on December 15 and then docked at a port in Finland to load goods.

On December 21, the National Bureau of Investigation said that the ship was seized because substances used to make explosives were found inside. Currently, the country's police and customs officers are investigating whether it violated Finland's laws regarding the arms trade.

Knowledge Link:

To let fans know more about this incident, the editor specially collected specific information about the "Patriot missile" for those interested in military weapons to learn.

The Patriot missile (MIM-104 Patriot) is a medium-range surface-to-air missile system manufactured by Raytheon Company in the United States. It replaced the Nike Hercules missile and became the high and medium-altitude air defense weapon of the US military. This weapon system became well-known after the Gulf War and became one of the representative weapons of the United States.

Like many expensive American weapon systems, the Patriot missile system has witnessed many controversies about its combat performance. PAC-2 and earlier missiles use missile tracking and command guidance as midcourse guidance. The terminal is semi-active radar guidance. PAC-3 uses midcourse inertial guidance plus terminal active radar guidance. The Patriot system has been sold to countries such as Israel, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium.