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SlothmanAllen

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THAAD interceptor production will quadruple over the next seven years from 96 a year currently to an annual rate of 400 interceptors. This announcement follows a similar agreement to increase PAC-3 production to 2,000 missiles per year over the next seven years.

WASHINGTON —
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has signed an agreement with the Pentagon to quadruple production of
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interceptors over the next seven years, marking the company’s
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aimed at ramping up munitions manufacturing since the start of 2026.

Once finalized, the agreement will allow THAAD interceptor production to grow from its current rate of 96 missiles a year to an annual rate of 400 interceptors, the company said today in a news release.
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These production boosts are nice, but what happens after several years of production at these rates? Assuming not large military conflicts happen, wouldn't stores of missiles become a burden? Do they shoot more missiles off in training exercises to justify production rates?
 
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SlothmanAllen

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SlothmanAllen said:
THAAD interceptor production will quadruple over the next seven years from 96 a year currently to an annual rate of 400 interceptors. This announcement follows a similar agreement to increase PAC-3 production to 2,000 missiles per year over the next seven years.



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These production boosts are nice, but what happens after several years of production at these rates? Assuming not large military conflicts happen, wouldn't stores of missiles become a burden? Do they shoot more missiles off in training exercises to justify production rates?
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Can no longer edit my post above, but reading around I found some more info that points to more extensive production capacity for other munitions.

Looking beyond PAC-3 MSE, both the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin see ample opportunity, with the DoW stating: “This facilitization strategy will be applied to multiple munitions procurement contracts over the next year, pending Congressional appropriations, to replenish our stockpiles, rebuild our military, reestablish deterrence and strengthen and grow our defense industrial base.”
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For his part, Taiclet offered specifics on where he sees potential: “With THAAD, you know, we’re going to be looking to triple or quadruple the rate, is what we’re being asked to evaluate. [PrSM] could go up as much as five times or more over the next few years, by 2030. LRASM and JASSM, which are the highly sophisticated stealth cruise missiles. You know, again, what could be looking at, you know, doubling and tripling of those munitions, also, under the same sort of framework, and that’s just the programs that Lockheed’s got visibility to.” THAAD’s Talon interceptor missile, inventories of which have also been badly depleted through combat expenditures in the Middle East, is currently facilitized for 96 missiles per year. An increase to nearly 300-400 per year would go a long way towards completing FMS deliveries to Saudi Arabia, replacing the US Army’s combat expenditures, and building out a magazine depth to address the People Republic of China’s growing ballistic missile arsenal.
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Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), currently facilitized for 400 per year, would jump to 2,000. Compared to a modest Army Acquisition Objective of ~5,600 missiles across Increment 1 & 2, this would open the floodgates for FMS to allies and allow the Army to set a more ambitious target for itself. The JASSM/LRASM production line, capable of 1,100 missiles today, would jump to 2,200 or 3,300. Doubling it was on the US Air Force’s FY26 Unfunded Priorities List, at a very modest cost of $800 million.
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So with these two news pieces we see plans for significant increases in production of PAC3, PRISM, JASSM/LRASM and THAAD:
  • PAC3: 2,000 missiles per year
  • THAAD: 400 missiles per year
  • PRISM: 2,000 missiles per year
  • JASSM/LRASM: 2,200 (potentially 3,300) missiles per year
Looking at this, there are still many other missiles that would need to expand production. For example, Tomahawk, SM-2, SM-3, AIM-120, AIM-9X and AIM-260 among others I am sure. I suspect we will see increased production rates on similar scales for these weapons if they are investing in others.

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