Boeing Lands Lockheed Award Worth About $14.7 Billion to Triple PAC-3 MSE Seeker Output; BAE Wins F-35 EW Work

BA said on October 5 that it received an undefinitized contract action from LMT worth approximately $14.7 billion, formalizing a seven-year framework to triple production of seekers for the PAC-3 MSE interceptor, the missile used in the Patriot air and missile defense system. Reuters described the award as worth up to $14.7 billion. Undefinitized means the final price and terms are still being negotiated, so the figure is better read as the expected scale of the work than as booked revenue.

The work is centered in Huntsville, Alabama, where Boeing expects hundreds of direct and indirect jobs. The award sits under Lockheed's own ramp: the U.S. Army gave Lockheed a separate seven-year PAC-3 contract worth up to $58.6 billion in July. Reuters also noted a constraint that matters for the whole supply chain: Congress has not yet appropriated funding for these deals, and suppliers may hesitate to scale investment until it does.

The seeker award adds to a run of defense wins. Boeing took the Navy's F/A-XX fighter in late September after winning the Air Force F-47 last year, and a Reuters analysis argues the unit could be turning the corner after losing $20.5 billion on five fixed-price development programs, including the KC-46, T-7, MQ-25, Air Force One and Starliner. CEO Kelly Ortberg has said Boeing will not take on similar fixed-price development contracts going forward.

Separately, BAE Systems said on October 6 that it received a Lockheed contract to produce AN/ASQ-239 electronic warfare systems for F-35 Lots 20-22 and to retrofit and modernize earlier aircraft; it did not disclose a value. For Boeing, the items to watch are definitization of the seeker contract, congressional appropriations for the PAC-3 multiyear buy, and whether the Huntsville line can deliver a tripling of output on schedule.