"You could never have enough": Militaries scramble for air defense interceptors
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Patriot missile interceptors are in high demand across the world. Image: Courtesy of Lockheed Martin
The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are diminishing supplies of air defenses and raising concerns at the Pentagon, and around the world, about insufficient stockpiles.
The big picture: Militaries are burning through interceptors, and everyone wants more. But demand outstrips production.
- Ukraine bats down Russian salvos. Israel counters Iranian barrages. The U.S. and allies such as France swat away bombardments from Yemen.
- Meanwhile, worries about stateside stashes were apparently so severe that they necessitated a review of weapons deliveries worldwide.
- The Pentagon recently froze shipments of Patriot interceptors to Ukraine, citing inventory concerns, before Trump at least partially reversed that move.
Driving the news: The U.S. Army in its fiscal 2026 budget blueprint increased its acquisition goal for the most advanced variant of Patriot interceptors to almost 14,000.
- That's quadruple the previous level for those interceptors, the Lockheed Martin-made PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement.
What they're saying: "The Biden administration was doing way too much 'playing catch' with the Houthis, and now the Trump administration is doing the same thing," Tom Karako, an expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Axios.
- "It's a bipartisan sin to treat our missile-defense interceptors as expendable and attritable assets," he added. "These are scarce national resources. We need to treat them as such."
Friction point: Industry can only pump out so many interceptors annually.
- "Part of the bad news is that we're not going to be able to flip a switch and get all of this overnight," Karako said.
- Specialty munitions like PAC-3 MSE, Israel Aerospace Industries' Arrow 3 and RTX's Standard Missiles (proving popular in Red Sea and Gulf of Aden battles) cost millions of dollars a pop.
- Large exchanges can burn through weeks of work. The U.S. reportedly used 30 interceptors in one night shielding Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar from an Iranian attack. Ukraine typically uses multiple countermeasures for each incoming Russian ballistic missile.
Yes, but: Lockheed is on track to produce more than 600 PAC-3 MSEs this year, a first for the world's largest defense contractor, and is eyeing 650 annually by 2027.
- "Demand for PAC-3 MSE has surged following its proven performance in real-world operations," a spokesperson told Axios.
- "Our new Camden facility, built in 2022, has capacity to increase production rates and enable the program to continue its critical production ramp-up."
- Lockheed last year signed a $4.5 billion contract with the Army for interceptors and associated hardware. Then-Army acquisition chief Doug Bush described the deal as "vital" to equipping the service "along with Ukraine and other allies around the world."
The bottom line: "It seems like the [combatant commands] line up outside the factory doors when PAC-3 MSEs are being produced," retired Army Lt. Gen. Daniel Karbler said at a CSIS event Tuesday. "They're stealing them and they're grabbing them to get them out into their particular areas of responsibility."
- "You could never have enough PAC-3s."
Go deeper: U.S. moves Patriot defenses to Middle East with dozens of C-17 flights
