The Army aims to increase the production of Javelin missiles through a new multibillion-dollar contract awarded to Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, which produce the weapon together. The new contract comes as the Pentagon and defense contractors look for ways to continue to supply Ukrainian forces while minimizing the depletion of U.S. weapons stocks.
Shoulder-mounted Javelin systems have famously played a significant role in Ukraine’s defense against invading Russian forces. Washington has supplied Kyiv with thousands of the anti-tank missile since the start of the war.
The new Army contract, which was announced yesterday, runs from 2023 to 2026, and it provides support for the procurement and production of the missiles for the Army, the Marines, the Navy, and foreign purchasers, according to an Army press release. Funding to fulfill the contract is already authorized at over $1 billion, and it could reach $7.2 billion.
“The Army, along with industry partners, are striving to shorten the production lead time associated with production and delivery of these systems,” said Army assistant secretary Doug Bush, the service’s top acquisition official. “This contract award further illustrates the urgency the U.S. government is applying to the acquisition of systems and replenishing munitions stockpiles,” he added.
With the Ukrainian military rapidly burning through U.S.-provided Javelins, American stockpiles have dwindled. In the first ten months of the war, the U.S. had depleted five years’ worth of Javelin production, Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes said in December. Around that time, Javelin production had been held up by production problems experienced by the subcontractor that manufactures the rocket motors for each missile. The new contract is expected to boost the production of Javelin-fired missiles to 3,960 annually.
“Together with our U.S. Army customer and supplier partners, we share a singular focus — the timely delivery of this exceptional weapon system to ground forces worldwide,” said Andy Amaro, the Lockheed–Raytheon joint venture’s president.
Lithuania, Taiwan, and the U.K. are among the foreign militaries that are also seeking Javelins. A yearslong delay in delivering Javelins purchased by Taiwan has rapidly become a major focus of the Pentagon and Capitol Hill as Chinese saber-rattling intensifies.
The Pentagon’s effort to respond to surging international demand and resolve supply-chain bottlenecks at home is speeding up. At the Reagan National Defense Forum in December, U.S. officials and industry leaders focused on scaling up the production of key weapons systems. One possibility that attendees widely discussed was the Pentagon’s issuing multi-year ammunition-production contracts, like this new Javelin award. Additionally, during a panel at the forum, Army secretary Christine Wormuth said that the U.S. had awarded $6 billion in new contracts to backfill depleted U.S. stocks.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the U.S. has transferred over $25 billion in military equipment to Kyiv through 37 batches of assistance. The most recent transfer, announced on Wednesday and valued at $300 million, includes ammunition for high-mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS), mortar rounds, and 155-millimeter artillery shells.