US Navy awards Raytheon $22.9 billion contract to expand Tomahawk missile production
The Facts
- The U.S. Navy awarded Raytheon, a unit of RTX, a $22.9 billion contract to accelerate Tomahawk cruise missile production.
- The Department of War announced the award on Monday, August 17, 2026.
- The contract runs for seven years.
- The deal is intended to raise annual Tomahawk output from about 60 missiles to more than 1,000.
- The award builds on a framework agreement Raytheon reached with the department in February 2026 under its "Arsenal of Freedom" initiative.
- RTX said it delivered three times more Tomahawks in the first half of 2026 than in the first half of 2025.
- Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao said the contract ensures warfighters "continue to have the lethal firepower they need."
- Reporting linked the award to concerns about depleted U.S. stocks of precision-guided weapons and air defenses after arms transfers to allies and the Iran conflict.
- President Donald Trump has publicly disputed that the U.S. military is running low on munitions, telling Fox News "what we've used is peanuts."
- Raytheon says it will expand capacity and work with hundreds of small and mid-sized suppliers to scale output.
Context
What is a Tomahawk missile and why does the Navy prioritize it?
The Tomahawk is a long-range land-attack cruise missile typically launched from ships and submarines, with a range of more than 1,600 kilometers Newsweek,BFMTV,Boursorama. Raytheon President Phil Jasper called it "the Navy's most important strike weapon, able to target hostile forces hundreds of miles away without ever risking the lives of our sailors" Investing.com,Investing.com.
How depleted are U.S. munitions stocks?
Estimates are contested. A Center for Strategic and International Studies study cited by BFMTV put U.S. Tomahawk use against Iran at roughly 850 missiles, close to a third of the arsenal BFMTV. Business Insider reported hundreds expended during the conflict Business Insider. The Hill, citing Reuters reporting, said the Army has used nearly all of its Tactical Missile System and Precision Strike Missile stocks and expended close to 80 percent of THAAD interceptors Hill.
Who disputes the administration's position on the shortage?
Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska said on CBS's "Face the Nation" that he was "concerned" Trump said he was unaware of shortages of cruise missiles and Patriots, calling it "not a good ... thing" Hill. French outlet Boursorama reported that the drawdown of missile stocks has been raised by Democratic opponents and outside experts and is firmly denied by the Trump administration Boursorama.
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
- Where Left and Right agree
- Neither framing disputes that the stockpile drawdown is real — transfers to allies and the Iran conflict emptied shelves, and the sixteen-fold production jump is the answer on offer.
- Where Left and Right split
- Whether the story is about a seven-year commitment of $22.9 billion to missiles instead of households, or about a country regaining the capacity to replace what it fires.
How left and right read it
Twenty-two point nine billion dollars, locked in for seven years, is a decision about what this country can afford to do with itself — and it buys cruise missiles, not anything a family touches. The stated reason is that stocks ran down through transfers to allies and munitions burned in the Iran conflict, so the fix on offer is a sixteen-fold production jump. But that logic has no stopping point. Justify the war before funding the arsenal.
“Worry over inventories of precision-guided arms and air defenses has grown as the U.S. continues supplying substantial military aid to allies and expending munitions during the conflict with Iran.” — The Independent
A country that cannot replace what it fires is not sovereign, whatever its stockpile says on paper. That is why the jump from roughly 60 Tomahawks a year to more than 1,000 matters more than the price tag: RTX already tripled deliveries in the first half of 2026 after February's framework deal, which shows the constraint was never American capability but the procedural friction stripped away to unlock it. So ask the next question. Which other lines are still throttled?
“The contract is a result of the Trump administration's "Arsenal of Freedom" initiative for industry to rapidly scale up weapons manufacturing by eliminating bureaucratic hurdles.” — Washington Times
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