The United States has signed a contract with Lockheed Martin for more than $5 billion to produce PAC-3 missiles for the Patriot system

On Friday, 28 June, the US Department of Defence announced a $5.27 billion contract with Lockheed Martin for the production of PAC-3 missiles, which are an integral part of the Patriot air and missile defence system.

Here's What We Know

The US Department of Defence does not disclose the number of PAC-3 interceptor missiles ordered, but it is expected that the delivery will be completed by the end of June 2027. However, a statement from the US Army said the contract covers the production of 870 missiles. Lockheed Martin currently produces two versions of the PAC-3 missile: PAC-3 Cost Reduction Initiative (CRI) and PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE).

Starting 24 February 2022, Lockheed Martin will ramp up production of the PAC-3 to meet the increased global demand for the Patriot air and missile defence system. In 2018, the company had the capacity to produce 350 PAC-3 MSE missiles annually. By December 2023, Lockheed Martin announced an expansion of capacity to 500 missiles per year.

Lockheed Martin plans to further increase PAC-3 MSE production capacity to be able to produce 650 missiles per year by 2027.

Source: Defence Industry Europe