WASHINGTON: The US Defense Department awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth up to $58.6 billion to produce Patriot interceptor missiles, the Pentagon said on Wednesday, as conflicts in Iran and Ukraine strain US weapons stockpiles. The US has supplied large quantities of weapons to allies while also using munitions in its own military operations in Iran, raising concerns about inventories of key air defense and precision-guided weapons.

The Pentagon on Monday announced a seven-year framework agreement with defense contractors L3Harris and Lockheed Martin to expand production capacity for

The Pentagon announced an agreement to rapidly expand production of specific components found in Patriot missile interceptors.

Escalating tensions with Iran have severely drained the stock of U.S. missile interceptors, notably affecting the inventory levels of Patriot and THAAD systems. This depletion…

The military has used approximately a third of its Patriot missile interceptors and about half of its THAAD ballistic missile interceptors.