Boeing has received a seven-year contract worth approximately US$14.7 billion to triple production of the seeker used by the PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE), the most advanced interceptor fired by the Patriot air defense system.
The agreement was awarded by Lockheed Martin, which produces the PAC-3 MSE. Boeing is responsible for the interceptor's seeker, the radar installed in its forward section that detects and tracks a target during the final phase of an engagement.
The seeker operates in the Ka-band and provides guidance data that allows the PAC-3 MSE to destroy targets through direct impact, a concept known as hit-to-kill. The interceptor is designed to counter tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and aircraft.
Boeing will manufacture the seekers at its Huntsville, Alabama, facility. The company said the new agreement will allow production to triple, a major increase from a program that had already begun to expand before the latest contract.
PAC-3 production heads toward 2,000 missiles per year
The Boeing agreement follows a much larger effort by the US government and Lockheed Martin to increase PAC-3 MSE output after demand for air and missile defense systems rose sharply.
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Lockheed Martin delivered 620 PAC-3 MSE interceptors in 2025. The US government now wants industrial capacity to reach approximately 2,000 missiles annually, more than three times that level. A multiyear agreement announced in 2026 has a potential value of US$58.6 billion.
That increase also requires suppliers to expand production of components that previously limited how quickly complete interceptors could be manufactured. Boeing's seeker is one of the systems that must be available in much larger quantities for Lockheed Martin to reach the new production rate.
Boeing had already received approximately US$2.7 billion in contracts in 2025 for more than 3,000 PAC-3 seekers. Those agreements called for production of up to 750 units annually through 2030. The new seven-year contract takes the program to a substantially higher scale.
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The company has produced PAC-3 seekers for more than two decades and says it has delivered more than 6,000 since 2000. Boeing has also expanded and modernized its Huntsville facilities to increase manufacturing capacity.
PAC-3 MSE is used by the US Army and several allied countries that operate Patriot. Unlike the larger Patriot system, which involves components and contractors from different companies, the PAC-3 MSE interceptor is produced by Lockheed Martin, with Boeing among its major suppliers.
The new contract gives Boeing seven years of production commitments for a component directly tied to the planned increase in PAC-3 MSE output. Reaching the Pentagon's target of about 2,000 interceptors per year will require the seeker production rate to rise alongside final missile assembly.
