US aerospace defense companies like Lockheed Martin are unable to make more weapons - including Javelins - in time for Ukraine, as well as refill stocks for the United States and its allies, due to extended supply-chain issues, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday citing corporate officials
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th April, 2023) US aerospace defense companies like Lockheed Martin are unable to make more weapons - including Javelins - in time for Ukraine, as well as refill stocks for the United States and its allies, due to extended supply-chain issues, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday citing corporate officials
"We thought we could get there earlier," Lockheed Martin's Chief Financial Officer Jay Malave told the WSJ, referring to the company's commitment to double its production of Javelin missiles by 2024, a target now pushed out to 2026.
The commitment to double Javelin production was made by Lockheed Martin Chief Executive Jim Taicle when President Joe Biden toured the company's manufacturing facility in Troy, Alabama, in May 2021.
The Javelin is developed and produced under a joint venture between Lockheed Martin in Orlando, Florida and Raytheon Missiles & Defense in Tucson, Arizona.
A search by Sputnik showed the production contract for Javelin missiles and associated equipment and services, valued at $311 million altogether, was awarded in mid-September 2022.
According to a Lockheed Martin statement at that time, the contract was to provide Javelin systems and production support for the US Army and international customers Lithuania and Jordan. The contract also includes more than 1,800 Javelins that will replenish rounds sent to Ukraine.
Lockheed Martin said sales of its long-range missiles known as the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System, or GMLRS, fell in the latest quarter from a year ago. The United States has shipped hundreds of such weapons to Ukraine, where they have been widely used against Russian forces, the Journal said.
The US Defense Department has handed out a handful of new contracts - worth around $1.2 billion - this year related to supplying Ukraine or backfilling stocks, its announcements showed. Around $11 billion worth of contracts has been awarded since the war in Ukraine began, though these are set to pay out over several years.
The report also said other big US arms makers are taking longer than expected to increase production despite billions of Dollars in support from the Pentagon.
A number of US defense companies, for example, plan to fulfill contracts by buying machinery from overseas to make more in-demand artillery shells, the report added.
