US-Japan Patriot missile production plan hits Boeing component roadblock

A US plan to use Japanese factories to boost production of Patriot air defence missiles - used by Ukraine to defend against Russian attacks is being delayed by a shortage of a critical component manufactured by Boeing, four sources said.

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Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) already makes about 30 Patriot Advanced CapabilityThree (PAC-3) missiles each year under licence from defence contractor Lockheed Martin and can increase that number to about 60, two Japanese government officials and two industry sources told Reuters.

The US hopes to increase production from about 500 a year to more than 750 a year globally as soon as possible, a person familiar with the programme said.

But no expansion at all will be possible in Japan without additional supplies of the missiles' seekers, which guide them in the final stages of flight, the officials and industry sources said.

"It could take several years before MHI is able to raise output" because of the shortage, said one of the industry sources, who like the others, declined to be identified because they are not authorised to speak to the media.

The production snag in Japan shows the challenges Washington faces in plugging industrial help from its global allies into its complex supply chains.

Boeing in 2023 began expanding its seeker factory in the US to increase production by 30 per cent, although the additional lines will not be operational until 2027.