The Army has awarded Lockheed Martin [LMT] and
Raytheon Technologies [RTX] a production contract for Javelin anti-tank missiles potentially worth up to $7.2. billion, the service announced on Wednesday evening.
Lockheed Martin said the deal, which covers fiscal years 2023 through 2026 and includes a base period for $1.02 billion, will support ramping up production of Javelins to 3,960 missiles per year by late 2026.
“We understand the importance of delivering Javelin and its proven capabilities to our customers worldwide so they’re prepared for the missions they face today and tomorrow,” Dave Pantano, Lockheed Martin’s Javelin program director, said in a statement on Thursday. “This contract allows us to continue to evolve with our customers’ needs, while ramping up Javelin production to support the increased international interest for this multi-purpose weapon system.”
The new production contract for the Javelins, produced by Lockheed Martin and Raytheon’s joint venture, will support replenishing the U.S.’ own stockpiles of the weapon and deliveries to international customers.
The U.S. has committed to providing Ukraine with 10,000 Javelin anti-tank missiles to date, according to the Pentagon, in support of Kyiv’s fight against Russia’s ongoing invasion.
“The Army, along with industry partners, are striving to shorten the production lead time associated with production and delivery of these systems,” Doug Bush, the Army’s top acquisition official, said in a statement announcing the award. “This contract award further illustrates the urgency the U.S. government is applying to the acquisition of systems and replenishing munitions stockpiles.”
Lockheed Martin said the contract covers tooling, testing equipment and non-recurring efforts for efforts to support “increasing Javelin production capacity both at [Javelin Joint Venture] factories and throughout the supply chain.”
Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said in March the Army’s aim is to eventually produce up to 5,000 Javelins a year, as she was discussing how the service is “constantly looking at” near-term options for accelerating production timelines to ramp up manufacturing capacity of critical munitions (Defense Daily, March 16).
“I also wanted to say there’s not, in fact, a Javelin crisis. There’s a little bit of a narrative about a Javelin crisis. We’re making 2,500 Javelins a year already and we’re going to be getting that up to 5,000 Javelins a year in the next year or two,” Wormuth said at the time.