Lockheed Martin received $556 million to produce Patriot PAC-3 missile interceptors for the US, Switzerland, Poland, South Korea, Taiwan, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain

The US Department of Defence has allocated more than $500 million for the production of Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missile interceptors. The customers are the United States and eight foreign countries.

Here's What We Know

The new $556 million agreement is a modification of contract W31P4Q-20-C-0023. Work will take place at Lockheed Martin plants in California, Florida, Missouri, Kansas, Arizona, Vermont, New York, Arkansas, Massachusetts and Texas. In addition to the U.S. Army, PAC-3 recipients include Switzerland, Poland, South Korea, Taiwan, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain.

The Patriot PAC-3 is the US Army's lead guided air and missile defence system. It provides the ability to intercept enemy air threats using the hit-to-kill principle, thus the missile does not have a full-fledged warhead.

The surface-to-air missile system consists of several launchers, a radar system, and a control centre. The radar is responsible for providing airspace surveillance. It can detect, identify and track targets.

The launcher is capable of simultaneously launching 12 to 16 PAC-3 interceptors, depending on the configuration. The Ukrainian Air Force has demonstrated that the MIM-104 Patriot can shoot down aeroballistic / hypersonic and ballistic Russian missiles.

Source: Pentagon