Pentagon announces $24.4 bn contract to speed up missile production

The Pentagon on Thursday announced the award of a $24.4 billion contract for Raytheon to accelerate production of SM-6 missiles as Washington works to replace the large amount of munitions expended during the Iran war.

The missiles are "critical anti-air and anti-surface warfare munition. This five-year agreement, with two additional option years, will drive faster production," the Pentagon said in a statement. The deal "provides the defense industry with the long-term predictability needed to expand workforce capacity and secure critical supply chains," the Pentagon added.

President Donald Trump has so far brushed aside questions about the major toll taken on US munition supplies by the war against Iran, which the United States and Israel launched on February 28.

Strategic inventory shortfalls

But the Defense Department's inspector general said last month that "the munitions expenditure on Operation Epic Fury has resulted in strategic inventory shortfalls and revealed industrial base bottlenecks for munitions resupply," using the official name for the operation against Iran.

And a September 15 report by the Congressional Budget Office cited the hit to missile defense supplies that "will leave the United States with a reduced inventory of interceptors for several years."

"SM-6 has been successfully fired"

Raytheon confirmed in a statement Wednesday that their SM-6 "has been successfully fired from various US Navy ship-based platforms and launchers on land," calling it a "combat-proven weapon." The weapons-maker also acknowledged increased efforts to meet demand.

"By continuously investing in our operations and facilities, we are removing constraints and boosting capacity to ensure we deliver this critical capability our sailors depend on," Raytheon President Phil Jasper said in the statement.

Trump has told aides he expects to resume bombing Iran by late November, after midterms the Wall Street Journal reported, which would set the stage for further Iranian strikes and more expenditures of American munitions.