This is the Patriot missile defense system that Israel just used to shoot down a Syrian warplane

Israel's military said on Tuesday that it fired two US-made Patriot missiles at and "intercepted" a Syrian Sukhoi fighter that entered its airspace.

The plane crashed in Syria near the country's border zone with Israel, and the fate of the pilot is unknown, according to The New York Times. The Syrian jet is thought to be a Russian-made Su-24 or Su-22.

Israel and Syria have a border dispute in the Golan Heights and have squared off in aerial combat before, with Israel earlier this year destroying much of Syria's anti-air batteries and losing one of its F-16s.

We recently got a chance to see a Patriot system at Fort Bliss.

Here's what we saw:

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Developed by Raytheon, the MIM-104 Patriot became operational in 1985 and is now the US Army's main missile defense system.

The missiles are fired from the M901 Launching station mounted on the back of the M983 Heavy Expanded Mobility Truck.

Source: CSIS

Each Patriot launcher holds four missile canisters.

The Patriot fires two kinds of missiles: the Pac-2s and Pac-3s.

The main difference between the Pac-2 and the Pac-3 is that the Pac-3 has a radar transmitter and guidance computer and uses hit-to-kill technology, directly hitting the targeted missile with a small warhead.

The Pac-2s, on the other hand, explode near the target to either knock it off its course or explode it. 

The Pac-2 replaced the older Pac-1.