The US Army plans to spend more than $1.3 billion on Patriot missiles for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, and has quietly quadrupled its overall purchase target for the air defense weapon that has proven critical not just for Ukraine but also for US forces in the Middle East.
On April 16, a panel of high-ranking Army officials who recommend armament requirements raised its buying plan for the most advanced Patriot interceptor to 13,773 from 3,376, according to documents accompanying the service’s fiscal 2026 budget request. The panel sets requirements but those don’t automatically translate into hard budget numbers or near-term contracts.
Lawmakers are crafting policy and funding bills for the Defense Department that could take those projections into account.
The new figure signals the Army’s commitment to the Patriot missile, which is under increasing demand as the US and its allies and partners seek to bolster air and missile defenses. The latest model – the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement or PAC-3 MSE, made by Lockheed Martin Corp. – can intercept drones, cruise missiles and tactical ballistic missiles. L3Harris Technologies Inc. provides the solid rocket motor.
Ukraine has relied heavily on Patriot batteries and missiles, known as interceptors, from the US and allies to defend its population centers against Russian assaults. The US has provided Ukraine with three Patriot batteries and an unspecified number of interceptors since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022.
President Donald Trump has confirmed that he’s sending more defensive weapons to Ukraine, sweeping aside an earlier administration decision to halt deliveries, as he criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for “killing too many people.”
The Army’s budget documents show 2,047 PAC-3 MSE missiles were purchased before fiscal 2024, plus another 230 in 2024 and 214 this year.
The Army has requested $945.9 million to buy 224 missiles in 2026 – $549.6 million from the base budget, and $396.3 million to support Operation Atlantic Resolve, which is charged with bolstering NATO defenses in Europe. The tax and spending bill signed by Trump last week allocates billions more for defense and will add $366 million to buy another 96 interceptors, according to the documents.
American forces in the Middle East have employed Patriot systems to aid Israel and to defend Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar against an Iranian missile salvo following strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities. General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters last month that US soldiers “absolutely crushed it” as they responded to 14 incoming Iranian missiles.
“After years of diagnosing munitions and interceptor shortfalls, at last we’re getting more of a prescription – and quadrupling Patriot interceptors sounds about right,” said Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “But getting healthy will mean taking our medicine in the form of appropriations and multiyear contracts. Even with all that, it won’t be easy and it won’t happen overnight.”
Army spokesman Steve Warren told reporters Tuesday that the service has steadily funded production over the years but “ramping production is challenging.”
In March, Lockheed Martin said its “PAC-3 team significantly increased production output and achieved new record highs” last year, delivering 500 of the missiles.
“This was a more than 30-percent production increase from 2023,” the company said, adding that it’s planning a further 20% production boost this year.
Source: Bloomberg
“It’s going to be really sporty. It’s going to be really interesting,” Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said during an event Tuesday. “It kind of feels like this is a little bit of an ‘oops’ moment where, like, okay, now we actually do need to get serious about munition capacity.”
Karako’s comments came during a discussion about Iran’s attack on Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar as retaliation for June 21 U.S. strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities. During that attack, two Patriot missile batteries defended the base from the barrage.
“We’ve been admiring the problem of air and missile defense capacity for years and years,” Karako said. “Now we have in writing that, no kidding, our objective is going to quadruple.”
The Army has been anticipating an increased need for Patriot defense this year, moving two batteries that had been deployed to the Indo-Pacific over to U.S. Central Command amid U.S. strikes on the Houthis in Yemen.
“There is this giant sucking sound in CENTCOM, for all kinds of munitions in recent months,” Karako said.
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