By Mike Stone
WASHINGTON, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin said on Thursday it received its first shipment of critical components from General Motors for Patriot interceptors, less than a month after the two companies inked a manufacturing agreement, as the Pentagon pushes for faster weapons production.
The Patriot missile defense system remains one of the world's most sought-after weapons for the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and Russia's prolonged war with Ukraine.
Since Russia's 2022 invasion of
Ukraine, Kyiv credits Patriot batteries with helping defend cities against Russian ballistic missile attacks, while Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeatedly appealed for more launchers and interceptors as Moscow intensifies air strikes.
GM Defense delivered the initial batch of housing components for the Patriot interceptors called the PAC-3 MSE — on August 28, just 22 days after the August 6 contract signing, Lockheed said, for parts that traditionally take months or years to produce.
The deal builds on a broader collaboration the two companies announced in June, when they said they were partnering to strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base amid surging demand for munitions, tapping GM Defense's manufacturing plants and laboratories to boost production capacity and supply chain resilience.
"This extraordinary 22-day turnaround underscores Lockheed Martin's relentless focus on execution — delivering for our troops faster, with greater capacity," said Tim Cahill, president of Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.
GM Defense President and CEO Stephen duMont said the automaker's precision-fabrication expertise would support "production of this country's critical defense capabilities."
Lockheed is investing $8 billion to $9 billion to scale munitions output, including PAC-3 MSE, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), adding new buildings and jobs at more than 20 U.S. sites. The company said production and warehousing space would grow nearly 50% following planned expansions.
(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Sonali Paul)
