RTX to double missile production under DoW frameworks

Production of Tomahawk cruise missiles is set to exceed 1,000 missiles per year under a new set of framework agreements between Raytheon and the US Department of War to increase missile production. Five agreements have been signed that will double or quadruple the production of key air defence and strike missiles as the US grapples with growing adversary arsenals. 

By Sam Cranny-Evans, published on February 5, 2026.

BLUF

• RTX will increase annual production of Tomahawk, AMRAAM, SM-3, and SM-6 missiles, with some production rates expected to grow by up to four times their current levels.
• The seven-year agreements utilise a collaborative funding approach designed to support the “Arsenal of Freedom” and meet rising global demand for precision munitions.
• NATO’s adversaries are also ramping up their missile production, creating a gap between capabilities that the US cannot afford to leave unfilled. 

On 4 February 2026, RTX announced that its Raytheon subsidiary had signed five multi-year framework agreements with the US Department of War. These deals, which span up to seven years, are intended to revitalise the American defence industrial base by accelerating the delivery of core missiles to the United States and its international partners. According to Raytheon, the agreements cover the following systems:

• Tomahawk Cruise Missile: Annual production will increase to more than 1,000 units, covering both Land Attack and Maritime Strike variants.
• AMRAAM (Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile): Production will rise to at least 1,900 units per year.
• Standard Missile-6 (SM-6): Output is set to exceed 500 units annually.
• Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA: Production to increase.
• Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IB: Production to be accelerated.

“Many of these munitions will grow 2 to 4 times their existing production rates,” the press release states. The expansion follows an executive order issued in early 2026 aimed at increasing domestic military manufacturing. Manufacturing for these programmes will be concentrated at Raytheon facilities in Tucson, Arizona; Huntsville, Alabama; and Andover, Massachusetts.

These uplifts are very significant if they are fully realised. The Heritage Foundation reported in 2023 that the US has procured only 9,000 Tomahawks since they entered service in the 1980s. It is thought there were around 4,000 in its stockpiles by 2024. Procurement of the SM-3 was just 400, and the SM-6 at 1,500. 

RTX confirmed that the capital investments required for this surge have already been factored into the company’s current financial outlook, the press release states. It adds that this shift represents a transition toward high-volume readiness, with the US government seeking to build a more responsive manufacturing base amidst heightened geopolitical tensions.

The costs are likely to be significant. Lockheed has invested more than $2 billion in expanding its missile production since Trump’s first term, and has plans for yet more to increase production of other core missiles in the US arsenal.

Expanding the West’s missile industrial base

The agreements with RTX follow a series of similar industrial accelerations across the US and European defence sectors. Lockheed Martin is also in the midst of a significant production surge to address what has been described as a transition from “just-in-time” delivery to a “high-volume” readiness model. This shift is particularly evident in the air defence sector, where demand for interceptors has surged following sustained engagements in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Lockheed Martin is set to quadruple production of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors, increasing capacity from 96 units per year to 400. This expansion is supported by a new framework with the Department of War and the establishment of a Munitions Acceleration Center in Arkansas. Additionally, the company is scaling its Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (PAC-3 MSE) production, with a target of at least 650 units annually by 2027.

• Lockheed Martin’s missile production in numbers – Calibre Defence 
• PAC-3 MSE: Lockheed and Diehl sign MoU to expand production – Calibre Defence 
• Lockheed to quadruple THAAD production – Calibre Defence 

To ensure supply chain resiliency, Lockheed has formalised several international partnerships, including a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Germany’s Diehl Defence to explore European production opportunities. Similar agreements have been reached in Spain and Poland to produce PAC-3 MSE components locally. These efforts aim to alleviate global bottlenecks in solid rocket motor production and advanced seeker assemblies, which remain critical constraints as the West seeks to deepen its “magazine depth” against increasingly sophisticated ballistic and cruise missile threats.

Lockheed is increasing production of other missiles too, with Javelin anti-tank guided missiles set to reach 3,960 units per year by late 2026, up from 2,400 in 2025. GMLRS missile production, the primary guided munition for the M142 HIMARS and M270 MLRS, will reach 14,000 units per year, along with an increase in HIMARS launcher output.

Calibre comment: Why are missiles so important for modern warfare?

Missiles have been the hallmark of western warfare since the late 1980s when communication and computing technology allowed for the development of increasingly precise and sophisticated munitions. The precision of these weapons brought about a revolution in military affairs, as some Russian theorists observed. In World War 2, it could take an entire squadron of planes and many passes with a lot of bombs to destroy a bridge. In the Vietnam war and the advent of laser guidance this was reduced to a squadron of planes and single pass. By the time that NATO air forces intervened in Kosovo, a single plane with a cruise missile could destroy a bridge. This means more effects per sortie, as well as the missiles launched from the sea and increasingly the land. 

• Ukraine intel: Russia has 250 of the Iskander ballistic missile in stock 
• Shahed and Geran: The evolution of Russia’s deep strikes – Calibre Defence 
• US Navy selects L3Harris Red Wolf for USMC strike programme – Calibre Defence 

Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, which are now sometimes called the Quartet of Chaos, all took note of these developments. Firstly, they realised that US and NATO strike capabilities were sufficient to potentially inflict defeat on them in the opening phases of a war. So, Russia and China developed extensive air defence capabilities designed to deflect those attacks. Iran has bought a lot of those systems while North Korea has dug extensive bunker and tunnel networks to withstand a strike. But with Russia and China taking the lead, all four have built extensive arsenals of strike missiles. Russia now produces hundreds of precision strike missiles per year, and tens of thousands of Shaheds. China either has or is establishing a capacity that likely exceeds that quite significantly. And Iran’s strikes against Israel, although successfully intercepted, consumed a large proportion of the US and Israeli interceptor stock. 

For the US specifically, Chinese military thought – and certain military realities of fighting in the Indo-Pacific – places a lot of emphasis on pre-emptive strikes. In a nutshell, it is likely that the People’s Liberation Army would have little choice but to launch extensive strikes against US ships and capabilities in its theatre before the US had shifted to a full war-footing. Hence the focus on air defence missiles, the SM-6, SM-3, and AMRAAM from Raytheon, and the PAC-3 and THAAD from Lockheed. At the same time, the US would need to rapidly return those strikes, destroying as many launchers as possible, leading to the increased Tomahawk production and procurement of missiles like the Red Wolf from L3 Harris. 

The lead image shows the guided-missile destroyer USS Chafee (DDG 90) launching a Block V Tomahawk, the weapon’s newest variant, during a three day missile exercise in 2020. Credit: US Navy/Ens. Sean Ianno.