U.S. Army Quadruples Patriot Missile Procurements For $40 Billion: Arsenal Faces Growing Strain

<p >The U.S. Army has confirmed plans for a fourfold increase in procurements of Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (PAC-3 MSE) surface-to-air missiles, as the county’s air defence capabilities and those of strategic partners across much of the world face growing strain. The increase in planned procurements from 3,376 to 13,773 missiles was confirmed in the Army Requirements Oversight Council Memorandum, and will cost the Army an additional $40.2 billion, with each PAC-3 MSE costing an average of $3.871 million. The PAC-3 MSE has an improved maximum engagement altitude of 36,000 metres, although its range remains highly conservative at just 120 kilometres against aircraft, and just 60 kilometres against ballistic missiles. To place this in perspective, interceptors launched by the THAAD system can engage ballistic missiles up to 200 kilometres away, although they cost <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/us-used-up-15-20-percent-global-thaad-arsenal-11-days" target="_blank">over three times as much</a>, while the <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/russia-first-regiment-s500-long-range-air-defence" target="_blank">Russian S-500 system</a> can intercept ballistic missiles up to 600 kilometres away.  Rather than an explosive warhead detonated by proximity fuse, the PAC-3 MSE relies on the kinetic energy of its impact to neutralise its targets, much like interceptors from the THAAD and the U.S.-Israeli David’s Sling systems.   </p><p ><img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/07/07/article_686bfda8d06c58_35024090.jpg" title="Surface-to-Air Missile Batteries From Patriot System"></p><p >The U.S. Army has struggled with <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/airdefence-shortage-forces-danger" >shortages</a> of Patriot air defence systems, with the deployment of new Patriot and THAAD systems to the Middle East from October 2023, and large scale donations of the systems to Ukraine, having stretched the already small arsenal. An Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/us-patriot-air-defences-iranian-missile-strike-forward-airbase" target="_blank">ballistic missile strike</a> on Al Udeid Airbase in Qatar on June 23 saw Patriot systems launch dozens of interceptors to shoot down the incoming barrage, representing the largest ever single expenditure of Patriot interceptors. With the Army’s arsenal having peaked at just 17 battalions’ worth, as early as April 2024 assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Jake Sullivan <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/no-more-patriot-ukraine-stocks" >confirmed</a> that the United States would be unable to provide new Patriot systems to Ukraine, despite requests from President Volodymyr Zelensky for “at least seven”new units. “The U.S. Patriot systems right now are being deployed around the world, including in the Middle East, to protect U.S. troops,” Sullivan stated.“If we can unlock further American Patriot batteries we would send them. But we are doing a lot of the supplying of the actual missiles that go into those batteries that get fired,” Sullivan added. </p><p ><img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/07/07/article_686bfd395ff536_98171526.png" title="Ukrainian Patriot System Milliseconds Before Iskander Strike "></p><p >The <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/combat-losses-wont-give-ukraine-patriot-free" target="_blank">rapid attrition</a> Patriot systems have suffered in the Ukrainian theatre, particularly to ballistic missile attacks, has raised significant questions regarding their survivability in a high intensity conflict. The system’s <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/combat-losses-wont-give-ukraine-patriot-free" target="_blank">considerable cost </a>at around $2.5 billion each, and its limited availability, has made losses very far from sustainable, and ensured that Ukrainian losses are unlikely to be replenished. The limited numbers of systems in service has partly reflected the U.S. Armed Forces greater emphasis on using fighter aircraft for air defence, rather than ground based systems, contrasting with Russia, North Korea and Iran which rely much more heavily on the latter, and China which has balanced more equally in its investments in the two kinds of assets. </p><p >Elaborating on the Patriot system’s limitations against more advanced ballistic missile attacks, Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Igor Ignat on May 26 <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/patriot-effectiveness-questioned-ukrainian-air-force" >highlighted</a> regarding its performance against Russia’s primary tactical ballistic missile system the Iskander-M: “The Iskander missiles perform evasive manoeuvres in the final phase, thwarting the Patriot’s trajectory calculations… In addition, the Iskander can drop decoys capable of fooling Patriot missiles.” His statement followed the release of footage over more than a year confirming the <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/russian-strike-patriot-radar-kiev-factory" target="_blank">destruction of multiple</a> Patriot systems in separate Iskander-M strikes.</p>