The Pentagon has signed a seven-year framework agreement with Boeing to triple production of seekers for the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (PAC-3 MSE), bypassing prime contractor Lockheed Martin in a direct supplier engagement.
This parallel deal accompanies a concurrent agreement with Lockheed Martin to more than triple PAC-3 MSE all-up round output. The approach implements the Pentagon’s Acquisition Transformation Strategy, providing lower-tier suppliers like Boeing with long-term demand signals for capacity investments. “To build a true Arsenal of Freedom, we must strengthen every link in the chain,” stated Michael Duffey, Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment.
Boeing manufactures the seeker—a component delivering active guidance data for intercepts—at its Huntsville, Alabama facility. The company invested over $200 million since 2024, adding a 35,000-square-foot extension, with deliveries up more than 30% in 2025. Seeker output already exceeded Lockheed Martin’s assembly lines in Camden, Arkansas, and Okinawa, Japan, that year. At the Paris Air Show in June 2025, Lockheed identified Boeing’s seekers as the primary bottleneck to 650 annual rounds by 2027.
Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and the Pentagon will ramp up production immediately, targeting a formal multi-year contract in late 2026. Lockheed produced roughly 600 PAC-3 MSE rounds in 2025, while Operation Epic Fury consumed over 1,800 Patriot interceptors in its first 16 days, including 1,285 PAC-3 rounds by Gulf partners. Reaching 2,000 annually may take seven years.