Washington: The US Army awarded Lockheed Martin a $9.8 billion multi-year contract to produce nearly 2,000 of the most advanced variant of the Patriot air and missile defence, the service announced in a joint signing ceremony at Lockheed’s Grand Prairie, Texas, facility.
The contract marks the largest deal in the history of the company’s Missiles and Fire Control unit.
The agreement covers the fiscal years 2024 through 2026 and calls for the procurement of 1,970 Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement interceptors and associated hardware for the US and allies, according to the service’s statement.
“PAC-3 MSE’s recent combat performance solidified it as a must-have capability for America and its allies around the world,” Jason Reynolds, Lockheed’s vice president for Integrated Air and Missile Defence, said in a company statement. “With this contract, we’ll be delivering record numbers of PAC-3 MSE for years to come.”
The contract underscores Washington’s push to replenish missile stockpiles and strengthen supply chains as conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East heighten the demand. The PAC-3 MSE, which uses hit-to-kill technology, is designed to counter tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, hypersonic threats and aircraft.
Seventeen partner nations, including the US, field PAC-3 missiles.
The muti-year buy enables “the Army to procure a larger quantity of missiles for more rapid delivery, thus filling our inventory faster,” Maj Gen Frank Lozano, who leads the Army’s Programme Executive Office Missiles and Space, said in the service’s statement.
Lockheed said it plans to deliver more than 600 interceptors in 2025, ramping up production nearly two years ahead of the award thanks to internal investments.
The contract “reflects disciplined acquisition and responsible stewardship of taxpayer resources,” Joseph Giunta, the Army’s senior contracting official at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, said in the statement.
Lockheed Martin said earlier this summer it was working toward delivering 650 PAC-3 MSE missiles per year by 2027. It is currently producing roughly 550 each year.
The company is also looking at how it might possibly ramp up to 650 missiles a year earlier than planned, Reynolds said in July at the Association of the US Army’s LandEuro conference in Wiesbaden, Germany.
“What we’re endeavouring to do in partnership with the US government, is to pull that left as much as we can,” he said.
The company is also looking at “the efficiencies and streamlining and doing everything we can to stretch those dollars actually to take that to a higher capacity, upwards of around 750 per year by 2027,” Reynolds said.
The government has not yet officially released the number for a top production level, but “if you take that trajectory and you project it forward into the future years, you will see as well north of 1,000 and then even much higher after that,” he said.
