Army asks Lockheed Martin to build PAC-3 air defense missiles equipped with radar and inertial guidance
REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. – Missile-defense experts at Lockheed Martin Corp. will build additional Patriot PAC-3 air-defense missiles under terms of a $5.3 billion contract announced on 28 June 2024.
Officials of the U.S. Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., are asking the Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control segment in Grand Prairie, Texas, for Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept on Target (Patriot) Advanced Capability-3 missiles.
The PAC-3 is a hit-to-kill missile designed to defeat tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and aircraft. It is a high- to medium-altitude long-range air defense missile that defends ground combat forces and high-value military equipment.
The PAC-3 missile is a high velocity interceptor that defeats incoming targets by body-to-body direct impact. PAC-3 missiles, when deployed in a Patriot battery, provide 16 PAC-3s on a Patriot launcher.
Lockheed Martin also handles the PAC-3 missile segment upgrade, which consists of the PAC-3 missile, PAC-3 missile canisters in four packs, a fire solution computer, and an enhanced launcher electronics system. The PAC-3 missile uses a solid propellant rocket motor, aerodynamic controls, attitude control motors, and inertial guidance to navigate.
The missile flies to an intercept point specified prior to launch by its ground-based fire solution computer, which is embedded in the system's engagement control station. The PAC-3 system can update target trajectory data during missile flyout with a radio frequency uplink and downlink.
Shortly before arrival at the intercept point, the PAC-3 missile’s on board Ka-band radar seeker acquires the target, selects the optimal aim point, and guides the missile to its target.
The PAC-3's attitude control consists of small short-duration solid- propellant rocket motors in the missile forebody, and fire to refine the missile’s course to ensure the missile hits its target.
The PAC-3 MSE missile is the primary U.S. interceptor for the multinational MEADS transatlantic development program focused on the next generation of air and missile defense.
On this order Lockheed Martin will do the work in Huntsville, Ala.; Clearwater, Lake Mary, Pinellas Park, and Ocala, Fla.; East Aurora and Ronkonkoma, N.Y.; Rocket Center, W.Va.; Vergennes, Vt.; Hollister and Foothill Ranch, Calif.; Wichita, Kan.; Camden, Ark.; Chelmsford, Mass.; Lufkin and Grand Prairie, Texas; and Archibald, Pa., and should be finished by June 2027.
For more information contact Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control online at https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/who-we-are/business-areas/missiles-and-fire-control/products.html, or the Army Contracting Command-Redstone Arsenal at https://acc.army.mil/contractingcenters/acc-rsa/.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
