L3Harris gets $4.7 billion deal to help boost Patriot interceptor production

Lockheed Martin has awarded L3Harris Technologies a $4.7 billion undefinitized contract award to produce propulsion systems for the PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) interceptor.

The contract will span seven years and marks L3Harris’ largest PAC-3 propulsion award to date, L3 announced last week. The work will support large-scale production of the interceptor’s advanced two-pulse solid rocket motor, attitude-control motors and a fragment explosive device known as a “lethality enhancer,” reads a Sept. 8 statement.

In January, Lockheed announced a seven-year framework agreement increasing yearly PAC-3 interceptor production from 600 to 2,000.

In June, L3Harris broke ground on two new facilities in Arkansas to support increased production capacity for the Army’s PAC-3 propulsion systems. Both manufacturing plants are expected to be operational by 2027.

The production boost comes as the war in Iran and Ukraine have driven up demand for the advanced air defense missiles. The Army already uses the interceptor missile in its Patriot air defense system and earlier this spring, the Navy announced its intent to integrate PAC-3 MSE into its Aegis Combat System for the first time.

The Army and Navy’s requests for PAC-3 MSE have grown 839%, from 341 in fiscal year 2026 to 3,203 in fiscal year 2027, according to an August report from the Washington think tank CSIS that examined the Defense Department’s fiscal year 2027 budget requests.

Still, experts warn that even plans for increased production cannot match the U.S. military’s current demand for PAC-3 MSE. The U.S. is also losing when it comes to the cost ratio between the PAC-3 MSE, valued around $4 million, and Iran’s Shahed drones, which cost $35,000 each.