U.S. Patriot Missile Production Hampered by Boeing Component Shortage

The American plan to boost production of Patriot air defense missiles is being delayed by a shortage of a critical component manufactured by Boeing.

Reuters news agency reported on this, citing four informed sources.

The United States plans to increase the production of interceptor missiles for the Patriot air defense system from about 500 a year to more than 750 per year as soon as possible by scaling up their production at Japanese companies.

One important element of this plan should be the Japanese company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which produces about 30 PAC-3 missiles each year and can increase that number to about 60.

However, the key obstacle to increasing production is the pace of delivery of the missiles’ seekers.

“It could take several years before Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is able to raise output because of the shortage,” said one of the industry sources, who, like the others, refused to be identified.

The main supplier of missiles’ seekers is Boeing. Boeing last year began expanding its seekers factory in the United States to increase production by 30%, although the additional lines won’t operate until 2027.

However, one of Reuters’ sources noted that even if enough seekers are available, expanding annual PAC-3 production in Japan beyond 60 would require Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to build more capacities.

That means that MHI or the United States would have to stump up the money to pay for a new PAC-3 factory, which could cost tens of millions of dollars or more.

Increasing the production of anti-aircraft missiles

In addition to Japan, the production of anti-aircraft missiles for the Patriot system is also planned to be established in Germany. At the end of 2022, Raytheon and MBDA Deutschland announced the launch of production in the German city of Schrobenhausen.

For the first time, the production of interceptor missiles is to be deployed in Romania. The local company Electromecanica Ploiesti has signed an agreement with Raytheon to launch production of the promising SkyCeptor interceptor missile, which is a version of the Israeli Stunner missile for the Patriot SAM.

In April 2024, Lockheed Martin signed a memorandum with the Spanish company Grupo Oesia to localize the production of components for PAC-3 MSE missiles.