The Pentagon signed a pair of framework agreements Friday with Boeing and RTX aimed at expanding production of crucial components for the Standard Missile 3.
The interceptor serves as the Navy’s primary ship launched weapon for destroying ballistic missiles before they can reach their targets.
The agreements cover avionics and ejector assemblies supplied by Boeing to Raytheon, an RTX business and the prime contractor for the missile.
Those components support both the SM 3 Block IB and the more advanced Block IIA variant.
Both versions operate through the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System, which equips American and allied warships with a powerful shield against ballistic threats.
The interceptors are designed to destroy incoming missiles outside the atmosphere, making them a key layer in the broader air and missile defense architecture.
“These agreements ensure our Warfighters get the munitions they need to win,” Michael P. Duffey, under secretary of war for acquisition and sustainment, said in the Pentagon release.
“We are stabilizing our supply chains, expanding munitions production and putting our entire defense industrial base on a wartime footing.”
That wartime footing is more than bureaucratic language after years of growing global missile threats and shrinking American stockpiles.
The seven year frameworks are designed to give Boeing and its suppliers the confidence required to invest in additional manufacturing capacity.
Under the arrangement, Boeing can begin producing components before a final contract is formally in place while the Pentagon, Boeing and RTX negotiate a multiyear agreement.
Neither the Pentagon nor Boeing disclosed expected quantities or the potential dollar value of the deals.
“This gives us a clear demand signal to build and deliver SM-3 interceptors at the levels needed to counter threats,” Bob Ciesla, vice president of Boeing Precision Engagement Systems, said in a company statement.
“The SM-3 is an essential part of the layered air and missile defense architecture that protects the U.S. and its allies worldwide.”
That clear demand signal matters because suppliers cannot expand plants, hire skilled workers or order specialized equipment based on political guesswork.
Long range commitments can help prevent the production gaps and fragile supply chains that have repeatedly slowed efforts to rebuild the American arsenal.
The approach follows a similar seven year agreement Boeing reached in April involving seekers for the PAC 3 Missile Segment Enhancement.
That arrangement is intended to triple seeker production as the Pentagon locks in supplies from critical subcontractors instead of relying solely on agreements with prime contractors.
The Missile Defense Agency also awarded Raytheon a $745 million contract earlier this month to manufacture fully assembled SM 3 Block IIA interceptors.
Those weapons will be produced for the United States and Japan, which both face increasingly serious ballistic missile threats in the Pacific.
The urgency became impossible to ignore in April 2024, when Navy destroyers fired SM 3 interceptors in combat for the first time.
The missiles helped defeat an Iranian ballistic missile assault targeting Israel, proving that production charts in Washington can quickly become survival math at sea.
Additional SM 3 interceptors have been launched since that engagement, including missiles fired during Operation Epic Fury.
Combat success may validate the weapon, but every launch also removes an interceptor from an inventory that cannot be replaced overnight.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated that the SM 3 inventory stood at 414 missiles as of December 2025.
A separate analysis from the center in May estimated wartime expenditures at between 130 and 250 interceptors and warned that restoring those stocks would take years.
Congress has also moved to preserve production of the less expensive Block IB after the Missile Defense Agency proposed ending new purchases in its fiscal 2025 budget request.
Keeping that line operating gives commanders another option while maintaining industrial capacity that would be difficult and costly to rebuild after a shutdown.
The Boeing and RTX agreements represent a practical effort to stop managing munitions one short contract at a time.
With ballistic threats spreading and combat expenditure climbing, the Pentagon is finally giving manufacturers the stable orders needed to build weapons at the speed American forces may require.
