From the FB page of:
Australians against zio onanism
Ahmad Zaharuddin Sani Ahmad Sabri.
The U.S. Army has awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth up to $58.6 billion to produce PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) interceptors for the MIM-104 Patriot long range air defence system, which represents by far the largest procurement agreement ever signed for the missile type. The award comes as the Pentagon seeks to rapidly rebuild inventories depleted by extensive combat operations in Iran and continuing military assistance to Ukraine, while also preparing for the possibility of future high-intensity conflicts. The extraordinary pace at which interceptor inventories have been expended, and the PAC-3 MSE’s average cost of $3.871 million each, has made sustaining inventories particularly expensive.
PAC-3 MSE Launch
The U.S. notably initiated attacks on Iran in February with its arsenal of interceptors for Patriot systems already severely depleted, with stockpiles confirmed in July 2026 to have fallen to just 25 percent of the volume deemed necessary by the Pentagon. Reports from multiple Western sources confirmed on March 5, 2026, that the United States Army had expended over 800 interceptors from Patriot systems during just five days of engagements with Iranian forces. Shortages were such that the United States was in March forced to request supplies of interceptors to replenish after extreme depletion of the Army’s arsenal in the war’s initial days, with the Polish arsenal being the only one in NATO that was not severely depleted.
Launchers From U.S. Army Patriot Air Defence System in South Korea Before Their Withdrawal and Redeployment to the Middle East
The latest agreement converts a previous one-year US$4.7 billion production contract awarded in April into a seven-year framework running from fiscal years 2026 to 2032, giving Lockheed Martin the long-term certainty needed to significantly expand manufacturing capacity. Pentagon officials have increasingly favoured multi-year procurement agreements over annual contracts, arguing that stable demand allows industry to invest confidently in new production lines, suppliers and workforce expansion. Lockheed Martin has stated that the contract will allow it to fulfil its commitment to triple PAC-3 MSE production capacity by 2030, increasing annual output from roughly 600 missiles to around 2,000.
Surface-to-Air Missile Launch From U.S. Army THAAD Ballistic Missile System
Procuring around 2,000 PAC-3 MSE interceptors would cost approximately $7.74 billion per year, imposing a significant additional burden on the already strained U.S. defence budget. This would be far from isolated, with the awarding of a contract by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency to increase annual production of interceptors for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system from an estimated 96 missiles annually to approximately 400, which was announced on June 26, expected to result in an annual cost of over $6.2 billion per year, as the more costly interceptors cost over over $15.5 million each. In order of facilitate a faster rate of production for PAC-3 missiles, Lockheed Martin plans to expand employment at its Camden, Arkansas, production facility by approximately 50 percent, while investing $8-9 billion to modernise more than twenty manufacturing facilities across the United States.
Ballistic Missile Launch from Russian Iskander-M System - The Primary System Patriots Have Been Tested Against in Ukraine
The U.S. has been forced to respond to the major shortages of guided missiles that have resulted from its war with Iran with the suspension of arms deliveries to strategic partners in Asia and Europe, and by withdrawing a wide range of assets from the Pacific theatre including THAAD and Patriot systems in South Korea. Despite the extreme costs of procurements, the effectiveness of the PAC-3 has increasingly been called into question. In the initial hours of hostilities footage showed Patriot systems in Qatar consistently failing to intercept Iranian ballistic missiles, while footage in mid-March civilians filmed two Iranian ballistic missiles striking oil facilities at the United Arab Emirates port of Fujairah, and failed efforts by Patriot systems to intercept them. Multiple pieces of footage, and reports of an only six percent interception rate in the Ukrainian theatre against Russian tactical ballistic missiles, have made the expansion of Patriot procurements appear controversial.
Mazlan Ali.
Zainal Abidin Sanusi.
