Lockheed Martin (ticker: LMT, down 0.92%) said that as countries' high-end air defense interception ammunition reserves continue to be depleted, the company will launch a new Patriot missile variant with lower cost and shorter deployment cycle. The new missile is named the PAC-3 Adapted Capability Effector. The production efficiency has been greatly improved, and the purchase unit price is less than half of its popular PAC-3 MSE segmented enhanced missile. Recent U.S. military budget documents show that the procurement cost of a single MSE interceptor exceeds $4 million.
The U.S. military's global reserve inventory of high-end interceptors (such as the Patriot series) continues to be depleted, and the inventory has dropped sharply.
Lockheed said that this new Patriot can intercept a variety of incoming targets, including cruise missiles, short-range and short-range ballistic missiles; however, it did not disclose the interception performance of the missile against long-range ballistic missiles - the Russian army has used a large number of such long-range missiles to cause heavy damage to Ukraine.
Raytheon Technologies (RTX) and Lockheed Martin, manufacturers of the Patriot missile launch system, have both committed to comply with the White House's request to increase the production capacity of some high-tech missiles to three to four times the current level in the next few years. But military officials also pointed out that there is an urgent need for more low-cost, medium-range air defense equipment in the ammunition depot, and the delivery cycle needs to be shortened to months, not years.
U.S. military procurement officer Brent Ingraham said frankly at a recent industry forum: "The original PAC-3 was not designed with full consideration of mass production manufacturing needs." He pointed out that a large number of parts of the missile relied on manual processing and manual assembly, and did not use highly automated assembly line equipment like the automobile manufacturing industry.
The U.S. military launched a low-cost interceptor development bidding project this year, with the goal of controlling the cost of a single missile to less than US$1 million. The project encourages the development of new seekers, rocket engines and other core components from scratch. The new missiles must be compatible with existing Patriot launchers.
Lockheed plans to officially reveal the new missile design at the Farnborough International Air Show on Monday. In recent years, the exposure of military equipment at this air show has become as popular as that of civil aviation aircraft.