“US Missile Manufacturer Faces Component Shortage Amid Ukraine Weapon Supply”

The leaders of the American corporation Raytheon said that the lack of raw materials and key components will not allow in the coming months to increase the production of rocket munitions, as required by the Pentagon. At the same time, the arsenals of the US Army continue to be actively devastated by the supply of weapons to Ukraine.

In its Q1 2023 report, Raytheon Technologies management acknowledged that supply chain bottlenecks persist, with the company currently catching up with what it estimates is a “record-breaking” $180 billion military production backlog.

Although we have achieved stabilization in some areas, such as electronics, we still face problems in the supply of castings, forgings, raw materials, as well as machining.

Raytheon President and Chief Operating Officer Chris Kalio explained.

Raytheon executives have previously warned that a shortage of rocket engine castings could stretch into much of 2023.

— recalled the American military publication Breaking Defense.

Now Kalio noted that Pratt & Whitney’s foundry production “increased about 30 percent this quarter” but that, he said, is still “not the output we need” and that many other manufacturing problems persist.

Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes has made it clear that growth in rocket engine production will be critical to increasing production of TOW, Javelin, Stinger and Standard missiles, which in turn will help “deliver substantial revenue growth” over the next two years.

— writing Breaking Defense.

Rocket engine deliveries continue to be Raytheon’s biggest challenge. The main supplier – the company Aerojet Rocketdyne – is in a protracted process of acquisition by the military corporation L3Harris. This situation negatively affects the solution of problems with the supply of its products, which serve as a key element of many platforms, “from missile interceptors to space launch vehicles.”