US Announces $24.4 Bn Contract to Speed up Missile Production
The Pentagon announced the award of a $24.4 billion contract for Raytheon to accelerate production of SM-6 missiles, describing the missiles as a critical anti-air and anti-surface warfare munition. The Pentagon said the five-year agreement, with two additional option years, provides the defense industry with the long-term predictability needed to expand workforce capacity and secure critical supply chains, as Washington works to replace munitions expended during the Iran war. The Defense Department's inspector general said munitions expenditure on Operation Epic Fury had resulted in strategic inventory shortfalls and revealed industrial base bottlenecks for munitions resupply.
Why it matters: The award makes the defence industrial base and munitions supply chains an explicit constraint on US force generation, as inventories drawn down by the Iran war are replenished under multi-year contracting.