A top U.S. defense company has penned an agreement to sell a missile defense system to Taiwan and is in talks regarding other potential sales to nations threatened by North Korea’s and Iran’s missile development, a company executive said this week.
A letter of authorization has been signed with the Taiwanese government in the last 30 days for sale of Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) air and missile defense batteries, said Mike Trotsky, Lockheed Martin vice president for air and missile defense systems.
“We’ve been focused…over the last several months on Taiwan,” Trotsky told reporters at a National Press Club briefing.
“There are also many other countries interested in PAC-3,” he added.
Lockheed Martin is now executing its 10th PAC-3 production contract, according to Trotsky, with missiles purchased by the United Arab Emirates on the production line for the first time. He said several other countries have expressed interest in both that system and Lockheed Martin’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD).
“If you look at what’s happening in Iran and in North Korea with the missile threat, then it’s not a real stretch to think that there will be other Pacific Rim and other Gulf countries that will be interested in that kind of protection,” he said. “Those are the two places where we’re seeing additional interest.”
Japan currently has Aegis-equipped destroyers carrying Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) ballistic missile interceptors and PAC-3 batteries. It is also developing advanced interceptors with the United States.
The SM-3 is able to intercept objects outside the atmosphere, while PAC-3 is aimed at lower-level intercepts. THAAD has a range of more than 100 kilometers and can defend an area about 10 times larger than PAC-3 against threats both inside and outside the earth’s atmosphere.
Trotsky said Tokyo is currently formulating a five-year defense spending plan.
“If the National Defense Policy guidance comes out and calls for a high-priority missile defense and calls for a multi-tiered approach, then I would expect in the coming…five years you will see some funding and acquisition inertia moving toward the THAAD system, in addition to the Aegis and Patriot systems that they already have,” he explained.
Lockheed Martin executives also said they were looking to expand their business into long-range interceptors, with plans to compete for a multi-year contract to provide operational support for the Ground-Based Midcourse system. The Pentagon is expected to release a request for proposals in the coming weeks for a contract to support the system of silo-based interceptors in California and Alaska.
Boeing has also signaled an interest in the contract, which is expected to be worth some $200 million per year in revenue.
Missile defense programs account for approximately 10 percent of Lockheed Martin’s military-related business revenue, according to company executives.