Lockheed Martin says it will build new, half-price Patriot missile

Lockheed Martin has unveiled a cheaper Patriot missile that would help the U.S. and Ukraine combat supply shortages and unsustainable costs.

The air defense interceptor would cost less than half of the nearly $5 million for the current model, the company said.

The Patriot Advanced Capability Effector, or PAC-3 ACE, was unveiled this week at the Farnborough International Airshow, a major international defense and aerospace industry showcase held in Britain.

The price of the new missile was not listed, but the current Patriot Advanced Capacity Missile Segment Enhancement, or PAC-3 MSE, costs $4 million to $5 million each.

“It significantly lowers the cost-per-kill against a wide range of threats, with the reliability PAC-3 is known for, while providing magazine depth the current global climate necessitates,” Lockheed Martin said in a statement.

The savings would provide needed relief for the U.S. and Ukraine.

Stockpiles of Patriot missiles have been depleted in the Iran and Ukraine conflicts, leading some American political leaders and military experts to express concern about whether the U.S. has enough missiles in other possible future conflict zones, such as Taiwan.

Demand for the missiles is expected to rise as the Navy places Patriots into the advanced radar Aegis Combat System aboard ships such as Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers.

Marc Cancian, a retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel now a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said a simplified Patriot missile would help accelerate refilling the low inventory of air defense missiles.

“The issue with Patriots is that it’s difficult for us and the other 17 countries that operate Patriot to build adequate inventories at the current level of complexity and price,” Cancian said. “A lower-cost version that could defend against less demanding threats, like short-range ballistic missiles, would be very valuable. The standard Patriot could then be reserved for more demanding threats.”

The heavy reliance on Patriot and other expensive missiles has underscored a “cost-exchange deficit” in which American interceptors costing millions of dollars or more are used to shoot down Iranian ballistic missiles costing about $1 million and Shahed-136 drones that cost about $35,000 to build.

“We and our coalition partners did use some expensive air-to-air missiles against drones, like AIM-9X (about $500,000) and AIM-120 (about $1 million),” Cancian said. “Although not efficient from a munitions perspective, it was far better than allowing the drone to hit a target.”

Lockheed Martin said the new PAC-3 ACE is designed to intercept Iranian short-range ballistic missiles and drones, which require oxygen intake at lower altitudes to sustain engine propulsion toward targets.

The Patriot will use a “kinetic kill” system — slamming into enemy missiles at high speed and using the resulting impact to destroy the target without an additional warhead explosive blast.

Tim Cahill, president of Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, told Reuters news service Monday that the company will “throttle back” some ​of the features of the more expensive PAC-3 MSE, including solid rocket motors, which provide propulsion, and seekers, the sensors that detect and track incoming targets, to lower costs.

Lockheed said additional savings will come from using the same launcher vehicles and systems and Integrated Battle Command System already in use. The new missiles will mesh with legacy launch systems and communications.

Lockheed plans to start production of the new Patriot variant in 2028 in conjunction with U.S. and European partners.