On Wednesday, April 1, 2026, the American company Boeing announced that it had signed a seven-year framework agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense to triple the production of seekers for PAC-3 (Patriot Advanced Capability-3) interceptor missiles used in MIM-104 Patriot air and missile defense systems.
Photo: Boeing
The agreement is directly linked to a similar contract awarded to Lockheed Martin to triple production of complete PAC-3 MSE (Missile Segment Enhancement) interceptors from the current level of around 600 to 2,000 units annually. Boeing is a subcontractor in this program, and its previous agreement with Lockheed Martin – covering the delivery of more than 3,000 seekers – was signed on October 14, 2025, for approximately 2.7 billion USD. It provided for deliveries of roughly 750 seekers sets per year through 2030. These figures will now be tripled.
Since 2024, Boeing has invested more than 200 million USD in expanding PAC-3 seeker production capacity in Huntsville, Alabama, including an expansion of the facility by approximately 3,200 m² (35,000 square feet). The framework agreement paves the way for additional cash-neutral investments by Boeing across the entire production value stream, ensuring confidence in meeting growing demand.
“Across the nation and around the world, we’re making significant investments in people and facilities to meet the evolving security needs of the United States and its allies,” said Steve Parker, president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security. “The administration’s Acquisition Transformation Strategy empowers industry to invest and accelerate the delivery of complex systems at scale and strengthen the Department’s Arsenal of Freedom. With this framework, we’ll be able to produce and deliver more advanced seekers and enhance our military’s advantage.”
Zgodnie z umową Boeing i Lockheed Martin natychmiast rozpoczną zwiększanie produkcji i będą negocjować w sprawie zawarcia wieloletniego kontraktu wykonawczego jeszcze w tym roku.
“This agreement paves the way for us to scale rapidly to deliver increasingly sophisticated seekers,” said Bob Ciesla, vice president, Boeing Precision Engagement Systems. “In 2025, we increased deliveries by over 30% and we’re excited for the opportunity to grow our highly skilled workforce and our presence in Huntsville as we now triple production.”
Boeing has been supplying increasingly advanced seekers for PAC-3 missiles since 2000. In December 2020, a 974 million USD contract was signed to increase production volume and to develop next-generation seekers.
Meanwhile, on January 30 of this year, the U.S. Department of State approved the potential sale of a batch of 730 PAC-3 MSE missiles to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
However, the framework agreements with Boeing and Lockheed Martin are part of a broader U.S. Department of Defense initiative aimed at increasing the production volume of missile armaments.
On March 6 of this year, U.S. President Donald Trump met with the CEOs of seven defense companies – RTX, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, L3Harris Missile Solutions, and Honeywell Aerospace – after which he announced an agreement to quadruple these companies’ production capacity for the supply of key missile munitions.
“We just concluded a very good meeting with the largest U.S. Defense Manufacturing Companies where we discussed Production and Production Schedules. They have agreed to quadruple Production of the “Exquisite Class” Weaponry in that we want to reach, as rapidly as possible, the highest levels of quantity. Expansion began three months prior to the meeting, and Plants and Production of many of these Weapons are already under way. We have a virtually unlimited supply of Medium and Upper Medium Grade Munitions, which we are using, as an example, in Iran, and recently used in Venezuela. Regardless, however, we have also increased Orders at these levels. The Companies represented were the CEOs of BAE Systems, Boeing, Honeywell Aerospace, L3Harris Missile Solutions, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon. The meeting concluded with another meeting scheduled in two months. States all over the Country are bidding for these new Plants.” wrote American president on Truth media platform.
Earlier, on January 30 of this year, Lockheed Martin announced an agreement to quadruple production of interceptor missiles for the advanced THAAD missile defense system, while on March 25 it was reported that production of PrSM ballistic missiles would be increased by the same factor.
RTX, in turn, announced on March 13 the completion of the expansion of the Redstone Raytheon Missile Integration Facility at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. This is also linked to the February 4 agreement to significantly increase production capacity for RGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles in the Land Attack and Maritime Strike variants (to more than 1,000 annually), as well as AMRAAM surface-to-air/air-to-air missiles (at least 1,900) and interceptor missiles of the Standard Missile family: SM-3 IB, SM-3 IIA, and SM-6.
More PAC-3 seekers ➡️ delivering more interceptors, faster.
With our 7-year framework with the @DeptofWar, we'll triple PAC-3 seeker production. This agreement strengthens global air and missile defense while supporting U.S. manufacturing.
More: https://t.co/FdT5eq6KHG
Right… pic.twitter.com/uHMCuXE16p
— Boeing Defense (@BoeingDefense) April 1, 2026