American Lockheed Martin received $211 million contract for producing THAAD SAM system launchers, designed for ballistic missile countermeasures. At the same time, end recipient will be United Arab Emirates, which purchased these vehicles through Foreign Military Sales program.
According to Pentagon announcement, order will be executed from August 2026 through January 2031. Launchers themselves will be manufactured in most modern modification currently available — Configuration 3 (C3).
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Defense Express notes this is quite interesting news, as in March 2026 UAE received approval for weapons procurement worth $4.5 billion, which included THAAD elements. They likely had to replace losses in war against iran, where one of country's two available batteries may have been destroyed.
Spring approval involved two AN/TPY-2 radars, two Tactical Operations Stations auxiliary vehicles and two Launch Control Station fire control vehicles. Also separate from system were 12 Sentinel 4 radars designed for detecting aerodynamic targets. Launchers were not mentioned there.
At its time, U.S. State Department approved sale of new launchers of this SAM system to UAE back in 2012. Then 9 additional vehicles were mentioned, as well as another 48 missiles, support and related equipment for $1.1 billion.
At the same time, current order is modification to contract HQ0147-19-C-5001, concluded back in 2018 (technically 2019 fiscal year) and previously provided mainly for financing THAAD SAM system maintenance in UAE. Now for first time launchers themselves are being purchased under it.
Possibly launchers will be modernized, but Pentagon announcement clearly states this involves production. New version differs with improved software and hardware components for improving data transfer and operation with other components.
Recall THAAD SAM system is designed for intercepting ballistic targets at terminal stage still outside atmosphere and has 200 km range. Currently U.S. has fewer than 300 missiles remaining for this system due to active use against iran.
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