Will the Pentagon prioritize munitions when the Iran conflict ends?

It is no secret that the U.S. has seriously  underestimated the rate of munitions expenditure in its conflict with Iran. In the course of the ten-week war and on-again off-again confrontations that have followed its supposedly formal conclusion, the Army reportedly has consumed most of its stockpile of long-range ATACMS and Precision Strike Missiles.

At the same time, the Army is also confronting a serious shortage of THAAD and Patriot air defense systems. The Navy faces a diminished supply of Tomahawk land attack and Standard air defense missiles. The Air Force is suffering from a shortfall of joint air-to-surface standoff missiles.

Responding to these shortages, the War Department is issuing long-term agreements with industry to accelerate production of THAAD, Patriot and other critical munitions.

A case in point is the contract the department recently signed with Lockheed-Martin for high-rate Patriot missile production that could total $59 billion over seven years, ending in 2032. The contract provides for tripling Raytheon’s current production rate by the end of 2030. Lockheed-Martin is planning to increase its workforce by 50 percent, and to upgrade or open 20 new plants.

The Lockheed deal parallels one with RTX, Raytheon’s parent company, which in February agreed to increase annual production of Tomahawks to at least 1,000. Current annual production stands at only about 60 units. Raytheon will also increase production of AMRAAM medium range air-to-air missiles from 1,200 to more than 1,900 missiles. It will increase planned Standard Missile SM-6 multi-purpose missile production from 300 to 500........

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