{"id":3860,"date":"2026-07-20T06:39:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T06:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/3860\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T06:39:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T06:39:14","slug":"lockheed-martin-launches-cheaper-patriot-missile-as-air-defence-demand-surges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/3860\/","title":{"rendered":"Lockheed Martin launches cheaper Patriot missile as air defence demand surges"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/lockheed-martin?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Lockheed Martin<\/a> announced a lower-cost Patriot interceptor on Monday as militaries seek cheaper ways to counter drones \u200cand missiles, while defence contractors face competition from start-ups making low-cost weapons that can be produced at scale.Lockheed said its new PAC-3 Adapted Capability Effector (ACE) missile would cost less than half as much as its PAC-3 MSE interceptors, which cost roughly US$4 million per missile, according to <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/us-army?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">US Army<\/a> budget documents.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Initial production could \u2060start within 36 months, the company said, adding that it planned to develop and manufacture \u200cthe weapon with US and European industry partners.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cAmerican and allied warfighters need a solution that is battle-tested and budget-smart,\u201d Tim Cahill, president of Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, said in a statement at Britain\u2019s Farnborough Airshow.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The location of \u2060the announcement underscores efforts by US defence companies to tap a European rearmament boom fuelled by Russia\u2019s war in \u200cUkraine, even as European governments seek to reduce dependence on American suppliers and expand local defence manufacturing.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Ukrainian Air Force\u2019s F-16 fighter jets fly over a Patriot air and missile defence system on August 4, 2024. Photo: AP\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/900c8eae-7a16-4003-b588-3921940a402e_8971ab55.jpg\" title=\"Ukrainian Air Force\u2019s F-16 fighter jets fly over a Patriot air and missile defence system on August 4, 2024. Photo: AP\"\/>Ukrainian Air Force\u2019s F-16 fighter jets fly over a Patriot air and missile defence system on August 4, 2024. Photo: AP<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The Patriot system \u200chas become \u200cone of the world\u2019s most sought-after air-defence weapons since Russia\u2019s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. \u200c<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lockheed Martin announced a lower-cost Patriot interceptor on Monday as militaries seek cheaper ways to counter drones \u200cand&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2375,831,14,93,2376,1039,2378,139,885,1177,261,571,2379,273,2377,26,520,2069],"class_list":["post-3860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-american","tag-britain","tag-defence-industry","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-farnborough-airshow","tag-gulf","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-kyiv","tag-lockheed-martin","tag-moscow","tag-patriot","tag-russia","tag-silicon-valley","tag-ukraine","tag-united-states","tag-volodymyr-zelensky"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}