"Adapt or die": Stockpiles are dwindling — the Pentagon demands a revolution in the arms industry
The war against Iran has exposed heavy pressure on US interceptor stockpiles: arms giants are trying to produce cheaper and faster missiles, alongside integrating small companies that offer low-cost alternatives. Lockheed and Boeing are already presenting budget-friendly solutions.
The giants of the US defense industry are in a race to produce missiles faster and cheaper, reports the Bloomberg news agency. The war against Iran has exposed heavy pressure on essential interceptor stockpiles, such as Patriot missiles, pushing leading companies to change their working methods and collaborate with small firms that offer more affordable alternatives.
Major manufacturers are redesigning engineering systems and production processes to offer alternatives to "exotic" missiles, which are complex, slow to produce, and prohibitively expensive, with costs that can exceed the 4-million-dollar threshold per unit. Representatives of giants such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon presented their plans at the Missile and Space Defense Conference held this week in Huntsville, Alabama.
"We are trying to change the rules," Jim Bryan, a senior manager at Boeing, told Bloomberg. "We produce a lot of sophisticated products, but the nature of such products is that they are expensive. We are working hard to provide cheaper and more available options."
For decades, the American defense industry has loaded missiles with advanced technological components in an attempt to deal with increasingly complex threats. However, producing these missiles takes years, and each one is significantly more expensive compared to the cheap UAVs that Iran operates in the Middle East and that Russia launches in Ukraine, which are estimated to cost only about 30,000 dollars.
While President Donald Trump downplayed the severity of concerns regarding the depletion of US ammunition stockpiles, the Pentagon has already requested emergency funding from Congress to replenish the stocks. Senior US security officials have made it clear to arms companies that they must "adapt and change or die." The challenge is immense: production rates must be accelerated while simultaneously lowering the cost of systems so they can contend over time against cheap offensive weapons.
To compete on price, Boeing is developing an "ultra-low-cost" guidance sensor based on commercial components, which is intended to account for only about 10% of the missile's cost, compared to 30% today. Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of the sought-after Patriot, recently announced a cheaper version of its interceptor at a cost of about 2 million dollars, half the price of the most advanced interceptor. However, Lockheed's new interceptor is expected to make its maiden flight only in early 2028.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon welcomes the entry of new and smaller companies into the industry, which offer the design and testing of interceptors at a fraction of the cost of the systems currently in the US inventory.
