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As Raytheon struggles to replenish Stinger missiles, lawmaker pushes Defense Production Act
Tuesday, Apr 26 , 2022WASHINGTON ― The U.S. may not be able to make more of the shoulder-fired Stinger anti-aircraft missiles it has been sending to Ukraine until at least 2023 due to parts and materials shortages, the head of manufacturer Raytheon Technologies said Tuesday.
The revelation, during Raytheon’s quarterly earnings call, underscores the challenge facing the Pentagon and defense industry as they seek to boost arms production in response to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. The bottleneck is fueling recommendations from Capitol Hill that President Joe Biden invoke the Defense Production Act to prioritize supplies of components for weapons like the Stinger.
Echoing a Center for Strategic and International Studies assessment, Blumenthal said the U.S. had likely sent Ukraine one-third of its Javelins and that it would take a year to ramp up Javelin production and 32 months to replenish Javelin supplies.
Greg Hayes, Raytheon’s chief executive, said the company is working to find some of the materials for the missile. Because some components are no longer commercially available, the company will have to redesign electronics in the missile’s seeker head.
“That’s going to take us a little bit of time,” Hayes said. “We’re going to ramp up production this year, but I expect this is going to be ‘23-’24 where we actually see orders come in for the larger replenishments, both on Stinger as well as on Javelin, which has also been very successful in theater.”
As Raytheon struggles to replenish Stinger missiles, lawmaker pushes Defense Production Act
The U.S. may not be able to make more of the shoulder-fired Stinger anti-aircraft missiles it has been sending to Ukraine until at least 2023, the manufacturer, Raytheon Technologies said Tuesday.
www.defensenews.com