The US military is paying RTX's Raytheon big for more Tomahawk missiles. It burned through many of them fighting Iran.

The US Department of Defense has awarded a substantial $22.9 billion contract to defense firm RTX, specifically RTX's Raytheon arm, to significantly increase the production of Tomahawk missiles. This announcement comes shortly after US forces in the Middle East utilized hundreds of these long-range cruise missiles during various strikes against Iran.

Acting US Navy Secretary Hung Cao highlighted the landmark contract, stating that it will expedite the delivery of Tomahawk missiles to US warfighters at an unprecedented pace. The BGM-109 Tomahawk is a subsonic cruise missile with a standard range of approximately 1,000 miles, and it's currently in service with the US Navy, Army, and a few American allies.

The missile can be launched from surface warships, submarines, and ground-based launchers to target land objectives. Additionally, there exists a maritime strike variant. Early February, RTX had disclosed the initial framework agreement, which revealed that the Tomahawk has been employed in over 2,300 operational instances. The US has reportedly depleted more than 1,000 Tomahawks in the Middle East this year.

The think tank, Center for Strategic and International Studies, estimated that American forces had expended more than 1,000 Tomahawks during their conflict with Iran. Given that a single Tomahawk missile can cost up to $3.5 million per unit, the new contract aims to boost annual production from its current rate of less than 600 units to more than 1,000 missiles over a seven-year period.