The US Army has awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth up to $58.6 billion to ramp up production of Patriot PAC-3 interceptors, as US forces have used an enormous number of them in the war with Iran.
According to The Hill, the deal converts a previous one-year contract worth $4.7 billion to a multi-year deal to provide the US military with a supply of the interceptors through 2032.
According to an analysis from the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), which receives grants from Lockheed Martin among a number of other US weapons makers, the US’s stockpile of Patriot interceptors numbered 2,330 before the US and Israel launched the latest war against Iran on February 28.
Once the initial ceasefire was announced on April 8, the US was left with 1,030 interceptors, and since the US and Iran have continued to trade attacks, that number today stands somewhere between 759 and 827. The US has also provided hundreds of Patriot interceptors to Ukraine in recent years.
CSIS also said that the US has around 250 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors, which have been used extensively in the 12-Day War and the current conflict. Lockheed also produces the THAAD interceptors and secured a $35 billion contract to ramp up production earlier this year. Lockheed intends to triple Patriot interceptor production and quadruple THAAD interceptor production over the coming years.
While the depletion of US air defenses presents the Trump administration with a strategic dilemma regarding the continuation of the war with Iran, as current production levels cannot keep up with the rates at which they’re being used, the shortages are a boon for US arms makers and are helping the Trump administration justify its ask for a massive $1.5 trillion military budget for 2027, a more than 40% increase from this year’s budget.
