The Navy handed RTX's Raytheon a $22.9 billion contract Monday to more than double annual Tomahawk output, a direct response to the missile inventory burned through six months of strikes on Iran. The seven-year deal lifts the production target from the current ceiling of roughly 600 units to over 1,000 per year, though delivery at that rate will not arrive overnight.
The inventory hole is real
Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao called the agreement a landmark acceleration for warfighters. The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated in late May that U.S. forces had already fired more than 1,000 Tomahawks since Operation Epic Fury began in late February. Each round carries a price tag up to $3.5 million, and the expenditure rate has far outstripped the pre-war production line.
RTX says it is already moving faster
The contractor reported that first-half 2026 deliveries tripled the volume shipped in the first half of 2025, a pace it attributes to heavy recent investment in the production line. The February framework agreement laid the groundwork; Monday's award funds the sustained ramp. Even so, officials and analysts caution that replenishing the broader precision-stockpile, standoff weapons and high-end air defense interceptors included, will take years.
The China shadow looms
Planners treat the Tomahawk as a cornerstone munition for any future Pacific conflict. The subsonic cruise missile, in service since the 1980s, can reach targets roughly 1,000 miles away from ships, submarines or ground launchers. A maritime-strike variant adds anti-ship utility. With more than 2,300 operational uses logged before this year, the weapon is proven, but the industrial base behind it is only now being stressed to a level that matches the strategic doctrine.