L3Harris wins $6 bln THAAD propulsion contract from Lockheed Martin
The seven-year award expands production of THAAD's rocket motors and follows a framework deal to quadruple output
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L3Harris has received an undefinitized contract from Lockheed Martin worth more than $6 billion, excluding escalations, to expand production of propulsion systems for the THAAD missile defense interceptor over seven years, the company said in a release carried by Business Wire.
The award follows a framework agreement L3Harris and the Department of War announced earlier this year to quadruple THAAD propulsion production, according to Reuters. L3Harris already builds THAAD's Solid Rocket Boost Motors and its Liquid Divert and Attitude Control Systems for the Missile Defense Agency, and the new contract funds a facility to expand capacity for both. In July, L3Harris signed a framework deal to quadruple that production over seven years, a deal Business Wire described at the time as the largest THAAD propulsion award the company had received.
Demand for THAAD interceptors has been building for months. In June, the government awarded Lockheed Martin a seven-year contract worth up to $35 billion to expand THAAD interceptor production, according to Army Technology. THAAD has had a 100% intercept success rate in flight tests since production began, L3Harris said.
The contract lands just weeks after L3Harris won a $4.7 billion PAC-3 propulsion contract from Lockheed Martin on September 8, extending its position as a preferred subcontractor across both of the major US interceptor programs. Taken together with multiyear procurement frameworks that General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin signed in August for THAAD and PAC-3 components, the pattern suggests a sustained, multi-supplier production ramp-up rather than a single large order. For L3Harris, the new contract adds further backlog on top of an already large propulsion order, reinforcing revenue visibility over the next several years and confirming, rather than changing, a broader buildout of the interceptor supply chain in which the company keeps capturing a growing share.