"Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (PAC-3 MSE) - Program costs increased $6,666.1 million (plus 73.1 percent) from $9,123.0 million to $15,789.1 million, due primarily to an increase of 1,377 missiles from 1,723 to 3,100," the Defence Department said in special acquisition reports on Thursday.
The special acquisition reports concern the first quarter of the fiscal year 2019 as updated by the US President’s fiscal year 2020 budget that was submitted to Congress earlier this year, the Defence Department said.
"Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) - Program costs increased $2,762.6 million (plus 31.5 percent) from $8,766.6 million to $11,529.2 million, due primarily to an increase of 531 All-Up-Round missiles from 1,800 to 2,331," the special acquisition reports also said.
There was also an additional requirement starting in the fiscal year 2024 to increase SM-6 Block IA procurement from 125 missiles per year to 180 per year through at least the fiscal year 2028, the Defence Department added.
Configuration three, or PAC-3, missiles are designed for launchers that have been modified to carry 16 interceptors compared with the previous model, which was able load four interceptor missiles into a single launcher, according to a recent report by the Missile Defence Advocacy Alliance (MDAA).
