Acceleration of THAAD Missile Production

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has announced that it has awarded Lockheed Martin a new order valued at $2 billion to significantly increase the production of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missiles.

Lockheed Martin will carry out this order at its facilities in Texas, Alabama, and Arkansas, continuing until December 2029. With this order, the total value of the existing contract for THAAD missile production reaches $10.4 billion.

The increased production rate is a consequence of the U.S.’s extensive use of these interceptor missiles to defend Israel and its own bases in the Middle East (primarily Qatar) from missile attacks launched by Iranians.

The THAAD Battery

The THAAD is a mobile, air-transportable missile defense system, managed by a team of around 100 soldiers per battery. The U.S. Army has seven batteries in service with an eighth being organized, to which Lockheed Martin has begun to deliver the required equipment. Each battery consists of six launchers mounted on highly mobile off-road trucks, each carrying eight missiles, for a total of 48 interceptors per battery immediately available, connected to a AN/TPY-2 radar station. There are other logistics vehicles for the transport of reserve missiles and for technical support.

Characteristics of the THAAD Missile

The THAAD is designed to intercept short and medium-range ballistic missiles, both within and outside the atmosphere. The THAAD effector produced by Lockheed Martin does not carry explosive warheads, but relies on its impact kinetic energy to destroy the incoming missile. The missile weighs 900 kg, flies at 2,800 meters per second, and has an operational range of 200 km with a credited tangency of 150 km. The THAAD has been successfully integrated with the Patriot PAC-3 MSE interceptor, launching and controlling the PAC-3 MSE.

Production and Spread

In recent months, Lockheed Martin announced that it had delivered the 900th interceptor of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) to the Missile Defense Agency (MDA). The THAAD system is used by the U.S. Army and the United Arab Emirates, which successfully put it into action for the first time ever in January 2022; supplies of these systems to Saudi Arabia are ongoing.

Source and photos @US Department of Defense (US DoD)