The Pentagon awarded Lockheed Martin a $58.6 billion contract for Patriot interceptors as Iran and Ukraine wars drain stockpiles. CSIS estimates fewer than 1,000 Patriot missiles remain.
The Pentagon said Wednesday the US Army awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth up to $58.6 billion to build Patriot interceptor missiles, as the Iran and Ukraine wars drain Washington's weapons stockpile.
The deal converts a $4.7 billion one-year award from April into a seven-year procurement plan covering fiscal years 2026 through 2032, the Army said. Lockheed said the funding supports its plan to triple production capacity for PAC-3 MSE interceptors by the end of 2030. The company aims to expand its Camden, Arkansas, workforce by 50%, to about 1,850 from roughly 1,200, and to raise annual Patriot PAC-3 output to 2,000 units.
Separately, Lockheed said it will invest $8 billion to $9 billion through 2030 to upgrade more than 20 US facilities, including new munitions centres in Alabama and Arkansas.
The US Army also struck a similar deal with RTX to boost Tomahawk cruise missile production from roughly 60 a year to 1,000 annually over time.
Pentagon officials are pushing defence contractors to speed output. President Trump signed an executive order in January directing officials to identify companies falling short on government contracts while returning profits to shareholders.
Industry executives welcomed the production agreements but said Congress must appropriate funding before defence companies can invest more heavily in components and capacity, Reuters reported.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, estimated this week that the US military has used more than two-thirds of its Patriot missiles and has fewer than 1,000 Patriot and 250 THAAD interceptors left. Before the Iran conflict began roughly five months ago, Washington had over 2,700 Patriot and THAAD systems, CSIS said. Some Iranian attacks have recently penetrated US defences, the think tank warned, leaving troops and installations more vulnerable.
Trump dismissed concerns about depleting stockpiles last week, telling The Wall Street Journal the US has "far more munitions than anyone in the world, and far more than we need." His comments came after The New York Times reported the administration had paused plans to expand military operations in Iran over concerns that a prolonged conflict could further drain Patriot and other air defence munitions in the Middle East.
The exact terms and delivery dates for many Pentagon munitions deals are still under negotiation, and Congress has not yet appropriated the funding needed to lock in the multiyear commitments.
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