The U.S. Navy announced Monday that it has awarded a $22.9 billion contract to Raytheon, a unit of RTX, to increase the production of Tomahawk missiles. The deal, which spans seven years, is intended to expand the annual output of the long-range precision-strike weapons from 60 missiles to more than 1,000.
The contract follows a period of heavy U.S. weapons usage during conflict in Iran and the supply of arms to allies. These operations have led to concerns regarding the status of U.S. inventories for air defense and precision-guided munitions. The formal award finalizes a framework agreement established between the military and Raytheon in February 2026.
Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao stated on social media that the military requested industry to scale up munitions output and that Raytheon is fulfilling that requirement. The Tomahawk is a sea-launched missile used by the Navy's surface fleet and submarines to hit land targets from a distance. The Trump administration has been utilizing multi-year deals like this one to encourage defense contractors to invest in new production facilities.
For the personnel of the U.S. Navy and the broader defense industry, the impact will be seen in the availability of precision-strike stockpiles. According to Acting Secretary Cao, the deal is intended to ensure that military forces maintain access to specific high-tech weaponry that has been depleted by recent combat operations in Iran. The scale of the contract allows RTX to invest in new manufacturing equipment and facilities to meet the new production targets, though specific locations for these investments were not disclosed in the report.
The agreement also sets a precedent for how the Department of Defense manages its supply chain through multi-year commitments. Similar deals were signed earlier in August 2026 for Patriot and THAAD interceptor parts, indicating a broader policy of using long-term contracts to stabilize the defense industrial base. The transition to higher production levels will occur over the next seven years, with the military aiming to rebuild stocks that were previously identified as being at risk due to high usage rates.
What happens next: The contract will run for seven years, during which production is expected to ramp up toward the 1,000-missile annual goal. The specific effective date and the schedule for facility expansions were not reported. Further oversight of the production increase will likely be managed by the U.S. Navy.