US signs US$3 billion deal to increase Patriot and THAAD missile parts production
2 sources across 2 countries · Hong Kong · Singapore · 1 of them is linked to a state
Who reported this
- South China Morning Post
- The Straits Times
What the colours mean
- Left
- Centre-left
- Centre
- Centre-right
- Right
- A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.
Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.
Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.
The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.
Every outlet covering this story shares the same political lean; read with that in mind.
The United States has signed a deal worth more than US$3 billion with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman to increase the production of Patriot and THAAD interceptor missile parts. The Pentagon announced the framework agreement on August 3, stating that the deal aims to triple the production of Patriots and quadruple the production of THAAD systems. This follows a separate contract announced last week for Lockheed worth up to US$58.6 billion to produce Patriot interceptor missiles.
The move comes as conflicts in Ukraine and Iran strain stockpiles. The US has provided significant arms to allies and used munitions in the Iran conflict, leading to concerns regarding inventories of precision guided weapons and air defence. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington based think tank, the US military currently has fewer than 1,000 Patriot interceptors and fewer than 250 THAAD interceptors on hand. Both systems have seen heavy use in the Middle East.
The Pentagon noted that the agreement establishes a second source for PAC 3 solid rocket motors and increases the output of ignition safety devices. Additionally, the US has entered a similar framework deal with RTX, the parent company of Raytheon, to increase Tomahawk cruise missile production from approximately 60 units per year to 1,000 units annually. Ukraine has faced chronic shortages of Patriot supplies, which are the only weapons in its arsenal capable of downing ballistic missiles.
How each side framed it
- Centre-right
- Outlets of this lean framed the deal as a necessary response to supply shortages caused by ongoing global conflicts and depleted stockpiles.
Sources
100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.