Learn more about the most important US weapons programs Details of the Pentagon's new arms deal

Although American officials try to make the issue of "lack of strategic ammunition reserves" of the American army appear "not so important", the efforts of the Pentagon and major arms companies in this field have revealed the realities in this field.

Ambassador Arjan - Political Group: These days, the crisis of US strategic ammunition reserves is still one of the most important challenges for the Pentagon. To the extent that the president of this country finally accepted this shortage in an interview with "Newsmax" after many denials and admitted that "our ammunition stocks are decreasing".

Although Donald Trump stated that the reason for this shortage was not the war with Iran, but the sending of "huge amounts" of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine by Biden, experts believe that in the circumstances that Washington did not deliver the Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, it was the war with Iran that significantly reduced America's strategic weapons reserves. A subject that has been a subject of interest in the American media in recent weeks.

In the latest news in this field, the American "Defense News" website has announced the investment of 300 million dollars for the development of its missile factory in the state of Texas; This action, along with several tens of billions of dollars of contracts by the US Department of War to increase the production of interceptor missiles, indicates the increasing pressure on Washington's weapons infrastructure to compensate for the used reserves.

From a strategic point of view, Washington's need to develop ammunition production capacity cannot be considered simply as a normal industrial program, because the widespread use of interceptor missiles in recent months and the difficulty of quickly replacing advanced ammunition have once again brought the issue of the sustainability of the American weapons stock into the spotlight. In the meantime, the main problem here is that the production of these weapons, in addition to heavy costs, requires a complex supply chain, specialized equipment, and considerable time; Factors that make it difficult to quickly compensate for consumed reserves.

Details of investment and factory development

Lockheed Martin plans to invest 300 million dollars to expand its plant in Grand Prairie, Texas, and the purpose of this plan is to increase the production capacity of missile parts and support various programs of the company's missiles and fire control systems.

This plant supports important weapons programs:

PAC-3 MSE: Patriot system advanced interceptor

THAAD: Regional High Altitude Missile Defense System

AIM-260: Joint Advanced Tactical Missile

Increasing production capacity and expanding infrastructure

According to the development plan, the production area of the factory will reach more than 735 thousand square feet. The main actions of this plan are:

Converting a significant part of office space to factory space

Development of automatic and ultra-precise machining capacity

Installation of new equipment to increase the speed and volume of production of missile parts

Currently, about 800 people are working in the production department of this factory. This collection has produced about 250 thousand pieces in 2025. Lockheed Martin has also announced that more than 30 high-precision machining devices have been added to the factory in recent months, and it is expected that nearly 100 more devices will be installed by the end of 2026.

The development of the "Grand Prairie" factory is part of the extensive effort of the US Department of War and Lockheed Martin to increase the production of missiles and conclude long-term arms contracts. Since January, the US Department of War has signed a series of framework agreements with the company, which aim to increase weapons production capacity and pave the way for multi-year contracts.

The most important programs and related contracts:

PAC-3 MSE: increase in annual production from about 600 to nearly 2 thousand interceptors in 7 years

PAC-3 MSE: 7-year production contract with a total value of about 58.6 billion dollars; After an initial $4.7 billion deal in April and conversion in July

THAAD: More than 35 billion dollars contract with the US Missile Defense Agency in June, with the aim of quadrupling the production of interceptors.

PrSM: announcing a similar agreement on March 25

AIM-260: announcing a similar agreement on September 17

Lockheed Martin's investment plan until 2030

The investment in the Grand Prairie plant is part of Lockheed Martin's long-term plan to develop the weapons production infrastructure in the United States. According to this plan, the company plans to invest between 8 and 9 billion dollars by 2030. The main goals of this program are: