The US Army has awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth up to $58.6 billion to produce Patriot interceptor missiles, Reuters reports, citing Pentagon, as conflicts in Iran and Ukraine strain US weapons stockpiles.
The US has supplied large quantities of weapons to allies while also using munitions in its own military operations in Iran, raising concerns about inventories of key air defense and precision-guided weapons.
The Lockheed award converts a previous one-year contract worth $4.7bn awarded in April into a seven-year draft agreement, creating a multiyear procurement plan for the interceptors from fiscal 2026 through 2032, the Army said.
Pentagon negotiators are pressing contractors to move much faster, with tentative production agreements struck earlier this year at the center of efforts to increase missile output.
The administration of President Donald Trump has also steadily increased pressure on defence contractors to prioritise production over shareholder payouts. Trump signed an executive order in January to identify contractors deemed to be underperforming on government contracts while continuing to distribute profits to shareholders.
Lockheed Martin says it is investing $8bn to $9bn through 2030 to modernise more than 20 US facilities, including new munitions centress in Alabama and Arkansas.
PAC-3 MSE is a hit-to-kill interceptor used within the Patriot air defence system to counter ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and aircraft.
