The US Defence Department has signed a framework deal with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman to expand the production capacity of components for the Patriot PAC-3 and THAAD missile interceptor systems, it said on Monday.
Pentagon negotiators have pressed contractors to move much faster with tentative production agreements struck earlier this year to increase missile output as conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine strain US weapons stockpiles.
Ukraine has run chronically low on supplies of Patriots, which remain the only weapon in its arsenal capable of downing ballistic missiles.
In its statement on Monday, the department said the framework deal would allow production of Patriots to triple and THAAD systems to quadruple.
