RTX to Dramatically Increase Missile Production Under Pentagon Deals

By Connor Hart

RTX's Raytheon division committed to surging its missile output, following pressure from both Pentagon officials and President Trump to increase production.

The defense contractor on Wednesday said it reached five agreements with the Defense Department to increase production capacity and speed deliveries of Tomahawk missiles, AMRAAM missiles and multiple versions of its Standard Missiles.

Under the up-to-seven-year agreements, RTX will increase production of Tomahawks to more than 1,000 a year, AMRAAMs to at least 1,900 a year, and Standard Missile-6s to more than 500 a year. The company said it will also increase production of both the Standard Missile-3 Block IIA interceptors and Standard Missile-3 Block IB interceptors.

Many of these munitions will at least double, and in some instances quadruple, their current production rates, RTX said.

RTX Chief Executive Chris Calio said the agreements are a direct result of the Defense Department's new weapons acquisition structure. Pentagon leaders have shaken up the way the U.S. military buys weaponry, equipment and software by making purchases more quickly, and from a broader range of potential suppliers.

The deals come as Pentagon officials have spent most of the past year urging weapons makers to dramatically increase missile production rates to better prepare for a potential future conflict with China, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.

Both the Defense Department's new weapons acquisition structure and its push for weapons makers to accelerate production have led to other similar deals, such as Lockheed Martin's recent commitment to ramp its Patriot missile and Thaad missile-defense system outputs.

RTX's deals with the Pentagon also come after Trump signaled the company out in early January, while issuing an executive order that threatened to limit defense contractors' spending on CEO pay, dividends and stock buybacks. Trump threw special criticism at RTX's Raytheon division, saying that military leaders had complained about delayed deliveries and slow investment in new manufacturing capacity.

"Either Raytheon steps up, and starts investing in more upfront Investment like Plants and Equipment, or they will no longer the doing business with Department of War," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, using an alternate name that the Defense Department has adopted.

Executives at RTX, which also supplies jet engines and other airplane components, said at that time that the company planned to devote more than $3 billion this year to capital expenditures, including investments in missile production.

Write to Connor Hart at connor.hart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 04, 2026 07:42 ET (12:42 GMT)