GM Defense delivered an initial batch of housing components for Lockheed Martin’s PAC-3 MSE Patriot interceptor on 28 August, 22 days after the companies signed a manufacturing contract on 6 August.
On Thursday, 17 September, Lockheed Martin announced its first shipment of critical components from General Motors for Patriot interceptors. The companies have described the work as part of a wider effort to increase the capacity and resilience of the US defence industrial base.
The speed is significant because such parts have traditionally taken months or years to produce. GM Defense used advanced casting and machining capabilities to make the housing components to defence specifications.
Tim Cahill, president of Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, said the 22-day turnaround showed the company’s “relentless focus on execution”.
General Motors and Lockheed Martin announced their broader collaboration in June. The arrangement is intended to draw on GM Defense manufacturing plants and laboratories, increasing output capacity while reducing pressure on supply chains.
The work centres initially on components for the PAC-3 MSE, an interceptor used in the Patriot missile defence system. Patriot interceptors have become critical air-defence systems during continuing conflicts. The Patriot system is among the world’s most sought-after weapons amid the US-Israeli war with Iran and Russia’s prolonged war with Ukraine.
The Pentagon is pushing industry to accelerate weapons production. Demand for air-defence equipment has intensified since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, alongside continuing US and Israeli military commitments.
Lockheed is investing $8 billion to $9 billion to increase munitions output. The planned expansion covers more than 20 US sites and would increase the company’s production and warehousing space by nearly 50%.
Its investment programme includes the PAC-3 MSE, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, known as THAAD, and the Precision Strike Missile, or PrSM. The brief outlines the scale of the planned expansion, though it does not specify how capacity will be divided among those programmes.
Neither company has disclosed the financial size of the GM Defense contract or the volumes covered by it. Jim Cain, a GM spokesman, said that information was proprietary.
GM has also declined to identify the facilities producing the components. The company said naming the locations could create an operational and security risk.
Stephen duMont, GM Defense President and CEO, leads the unit supplying the parts. The companies have not disclosed a timetable for further deliveries or the total number of PAC-3 MSE components ordered under the agreement.
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