Posted on 08/18/2026 8:11:46 AM PDT by Red Badger
The U.S. Navy awarded Raytheon a $22.9 billion, multi-year contract to accelerate production of Tomahawk cruise missiles, aiming to build more than 1,000 of the long-range strike weapons a year.
The Department of War announced the award Monday as part of its "Arsenal of Freedom" initiative to expand weapons production.
"This landmark $22.9 billion investment will accelerate Tomahawk missile delivery to our warfighters at unprecedented speed," said Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao.
Raytheon, an RTX business, said the contract supports increasing annual output to more than 1,000 Tomahawks and that it is investing in its workforce, supply chain and facilities to meet demand.
"Tomahawk is the Navy's most important strike weapon, able to target hostile forces hundreds of miles away without ever risking the lives of our sailors," Raytheon President Phil Jasper said.
The contract comes as the U.S. works to rebuild a depleted arsenal. American forces have expended about a third of the nation's Tomahawk inventory, the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated in a July analysis, including at least 135 fired during the campaign against Yemen's Houthis and 24 during the Twelve Day War with Iran.
The Navy's own budget documents show how sharply spending is climbing. The department's fiscal 2027 request seeks 785 Tomahawks for $5.88 billion, about $7.5 million per missile, up from 55 missiles the year before, and the budget says the Pentagon will "leverage the Tomahawk Multi-Year Procurement contract that the Department will initiate in FY 2026" to lower unit costs and speed delivery.
But more money will not quickly yield more missiles, according to a July report by the Project On Government Oversight. The watchdog group estimated current Tomahawk production at about 60 missiles a year and said the weapon takes 47 months to deliver once a contract is signed, with manufacturing capacity, not funding, as the binding constraint. POGO found the Tomahawk to be the military's most depleted munition, with recent strikes consuming far more than the U.S. had produced in recent years.
The department publicized the $22.9 billion award through news releases from the Department of War and Raytheon, but the contract does not appear on the department's daily list of contracts, where the government itemizes major awards and the funding obligated to them.
The award is part of a broader Department of War effort to expand munitions production under what it calls its Acquisition Transformation Strategy. The Center Square previously reported that the department signed framework agreements with Northrop Grumman in August to expand production of PAC-3 and THAAD missile-defense interceptors, deals that fed much larger prime contracts.
"The Department called upon industry to expand munitions production, and RTX has answered that call," said Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment Michael P. Duffey.
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I thought this country was 39 trillion in debt?
A trillion here, a trillion there...........
The U.S. military has used close to 1,000 Tomahawk missiles against Iran and Yemen since 2025. This includes over 850 Tomahawks fired during military operations against Iran (such as Operation Epic Fury starting in early 2026) and at least 135 Tomahawks expended in strikes against Houthi forces in Yemen.
I built a few molds that seal the ends of the Patriot canisters a couple of years ago for a customer heavy into defense. When they fire them it blows them off, so it’s a one and done part.
They just asked me to re-quote a new set of tools to meet the new production schedules Raytheon is wanting.
Evidently Patriot production is being tested to their limit as well, look for a spending increase on those coming to line pockets near you.
7 million for a freaking missile? (Deep sigh)
And make it snappy.
How unready and incapable a military would make you happy?
We need a ready, capable, well funded and well armed military, but we need to be doing that by spending on cost effective, modern weapons, like the Barracuda missile from Anduril which is 1/35th the price.
The Tomahawk is considered the best in the world and is highly sought after by the advanced world, after preparing their ships Japan just fired their first one from a ship.
I think we need different weapons for different targets and uses, similar to drones, for some jobs small, cheap, and simple drones, for other missions, big, expensive, and complex drones.
No doubt it is a great weapon, just too expensive for what we are using it for. We don’t need a tomahawk to blow up mud huts in Yemen, total overkill. Save the Tomahawks for a nightmare China/Taiwan scenario.
I don’t know what targets they are using them for, but post 10 covered the issue of using the wrong weapon for a particular mission.
The American government is already well on the way to addressing the waste issue of overkill by not having cheaper versions of things to fill gaps.
We just got our first shipment of Ukraine made drones and they are coming over here to help us while Trump has sent GIs over to Ukraine to learn from them, Ukraine is also helping many other nations in the Middle East along with the Philippines and others, in my mind it isn’t just about waste by us, it is also about losing market share because we keep canceling or delaying foreign orders for Patriots and Tomahawks, a problem that leads to competitors designing their own.
Barracuda is half the range and 1/10th the payload capacity. (583mi and 100lbs vs 1000+ and 10000lbs.) Barracuda is not a direct replacement for Tomahawk - it does not fit in missile cells and launchers for Tomahawks, nor does it use the same control connections.
Also, the per-unit retail cost of a Tomahawk built under standard priority is about $2M per missile. Some of this money in the contract is for Raytheon to rebuild the higher-rate production capability that was destroyed during the Obama Administration. The 80s production lines that could churn out hundreds if not thousands of Tomahawks and other missiles a month are long gone.
There is also the question of outside vulnerability on the Barracuda - it uses Commercial Off The Shelf electronics, but some of those have foreign suppliers. Probably not an issue when pounding an inferior, but if we get into a war with China or Russia or an Islamified EU? Could be a huge vulnerability.
We don’t currently have the platforms equipped with anything else for the role. The platforms we have are limited to Tomahawk in terms of launchers, magazines and control systems; we have to retrofit for other arms. Look at what’s going on with our adoption of the Naval Strike Missile series.
We could slow the expenditure and mitigate the depletion by not giving our stockpiles to people that aren’t deserving of them and should pay for their own
22.9 billion is a lot less than the Medicaid fraud.
Sure, I can’t think of any of those off the top of my head.
Both Patriot and Tomahawk are Raytheon missiles.
Designed and made in the USA.
The problem with his stuff is that it is hard to predict how much it is needed.
And, when they are needed, it is hard to ramp up production.
Keeping huge inventories is not that great either, this stuff does have limited shelf life.
The contract comes as the US labors to rebuild a depleted
arsenal w/ tax dollars designed to protect US families.
American forces have expended about a third of the nation’s Tomahawk inventory, the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated in a July analysis, including at least 135 fired during the campaign against Yemen’s Houthis and 24 during the Twelve Day War with Iran.
BACKSTORY then-President Barack Obama’s administration provided Israel with over $23.5 billion in direct Foreign Military Financing tax dollars between 2009 and 2016.
Additionally, Obama allocated $1.6 billion specifically to fund Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system. —— National Archives (.gov)
In the final months of his presidency, Obama also negotiated and signed a landmark 10-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that committed the United States to giving Israel an additional $38 billion in military aid. -—— AIPAC lobby
Something that will help is that as we fill our warehouses, in time our NATO allies and Pacific allies will be filling theirs as well, and we should help motivate everyone to stay topped off.
Remember all the old missiles and artillery and weapons available from our global friends and allies for Ukraine?
We not only store weapons but our friends and allies can have usable amounts stored that could be available in emergencies.
We have a huge advantage with so many countries likeing and using our weapons, they support our own weapon industry and we use so much that is the same, like 155 shells, Patriots, Tomahawks, etc.
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