Postol questioned whether the Patriot is fully equipped to handle all the non-linear butterfly effects of the Scud in the air. To make the matter worse, once it re-enters the atmosphere toward a target, the breaking pieces of the Scud then act as some sort of multi-warheads of the more advanced modern ballistic missiles. The Patriot system may not be able to handle the incoming pieces of the Scud at its short range of defense.