With Iran-related fighting and the Russia-Ukraine war depleting U.S. munitions
stocks, the Pentagon has pledged nearly $100bn to defense contractors to
accelerate production of Patriot and THAAD interceptors and has ordered 14
nuclear submarines under a $76.6bn contract. Sources on the 29th said the
Pentagon has restructured a Patriot purchase signed in April — a one-year $4.7bn
contract — into a draft seven-year deal worth $58.6bn, and has preliminarily
agreed a seven-year THAAD interceptor contract totaling $35bn. Both procurement
documents are not final but indicate a shift toward multi-year contracts to
incentivize contractors to expand capacity in return for stable, sustained
orders.
