Iran War May Give Defense Contractors $200 Billion Windfall
In November, the Pentagon released what it called its “Acquisition Transformation Strategy.” The document opens with the picture of a flapping American flag above images of missiles, torpedoes, and drones and lays out a blueprint for putting American weapons manufacturing “on a wartime footing.” Now an actual war is accelerating that transformation, providing a boon to U.S. weapons manufacturers.
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Missiles that can hit and destroy incoming missiles have become an essential part of U.S. defense of allies and American bases overseas. Lockheed Martin is a major producer of those air defense technologies. They include Patriot missile batteries guarding key locations around the world and the THAAD interceptors which can find and destroy incoming ballistic missiles traveling inside and outside the earth’s atmosphere.
During Israel’s 12-day war with Iran in June, more than 90 THAAD interceptors targeted incoming Iranian ballistic missiles in the region, an estimated 14% of the total U.S. inventory of those missiles at the time, according to analysis published by The Jewish Institute for National Security of America.
THAAD batteries are in high demand by allies such as Israel, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar for defending themselves from Iranian attacks.
Patriot missile batteries are also used to protect U.S. bases in the Middle East. In June, when Trump ordered bunker-busting bombs dropped on Iranian nuclear sites, Iran retaliated by launching missiles at U.S. bases, sparking the U.S. military’s single-largest use of Patriot defenses ever.
Read the full article in TIME Magazine.