The U.S. Department of Defense has signed a seven-year, $22.9 billion contract with RTX’s Raytheon unit to significantly increase production of Tomahawk cruise missiles. U.S. military officials said this, Reuters reports, writes UNN.
Details
The contract is intended to help the United States replenish its stocks of precision weapons, which have declined due to arms deliveries to allies and the use of munitions during the war with Iran.
We called on industry to rapidly increase munitions production, and RTX is fulfilling its responsibilities. This landmark Tomahawk contract ensures that our warfighters will continue to have the lethal firepower they need
According to Raytheon, the agreement is for seven years and will allow annual Tomahawk production to increase to more than 1,000 missiles. The company currently produces about 60 such missiles per year.
The U.S. is ramping up weapons production
The Tomahawk is the U.S. Navy’s primary long-range strike system for its surface fleet. The missiles are used to conduct precision strikes against ground targets from ships and submarines.
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The new contract formalizes a framework agreement that the U.S. military and Raytheon signed in February. The administration of Donald Trump is signing multiyear contracts with major defense companies to encourage their investment in production capacity and equipment.
Earlier this month, the U.S. military also signed agreements to increase production of components for Patriot and THAAD interceptor missiles.