Pentagon Signs Deal with Lockheed and Northrop to Scale Interceptor Production

The US Defense Department has signed a framework agreement with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman to expand production capacity for key components of the Patriot PAC-3 and THAAD missile interceptor systems, Reuters reported on August 3.

Under the terms of the deal, the new framework will enable a threefold increase in Patriot missile production and a fourfold expansion of THAAD interceptor output, according to the Defense Department statement.

Pentagon negotiators pressed contractors to accelerate execution on tentative agreements struck earlier this year to scale up missile delivery schedules, addressing severe strains placed on American weapons stockpiles by ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, according to Reuters.

While officials did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, the agreement establishes a second manufacturing source for PAC-3 solid rocket motors and ramps up production of ignition safety devices, Reuters reported.

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The framework follows a separate award last week in which the US Army granted Lockheed Martin a contract valued at up to $58.6 billion to produce Patriot interceptors.

The drive to expand component supply lines comes as Ukrainian forces endure chronic shortages of Patriot interceptors, which remain the sole weapon system in Kyiv’s arsenal capable of defeating Russian ballistic missiles, Reuters noted.

The expansion comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently requested an emergency winter package of 300 Patriot interceptors from the US, warning that shortages leave the country’s power grid vulnerable to Russian ballistic strikes.

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