Lockheed Martin secures a $4.76 billion missile contract

On April 9, the U.S. Department of War announced a new $4,761,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract to produce PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement missiles. It will cover all incidental services, hardware, equipment, technical planning, management, and manufacturing efforts. Lockheed Martin’s Grand Prairie in Texas has been chosen as the program’s headquarters and one of the main final assembly sites.

Most of the funding ($4,496,040,000, about 94%) was awarded from the fiscal 2026 Foreign Military Sales funds. The rest ($264,960,000) came from fiscal 2026 Army missile procurement appropriations.

The estimated completion date for the contract is set at June 30, 2030. PAC-3 and PAC-3 MSE interceptor missiles are mandatory for the Patriot air defence system. According to Lockheed Martin, the MSE munition is designed to destroy advanced tactical ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles, as well as aircraft. The product is highly sought after worldwide, especially recently since the attack of the US and Israel on Iran. Patriot systems are commonly used by Gulf states to intercept Iranian missiles. In the first 16 days of the conflict, both the US and its allies used more than 1,800 Patriot interceptors. The missiles are also highly sought after by Ukraine, which needs them to defend the country from Russian airborne attacks.