1115 ET - Northrop Grumman says it finished the Pentagon qualification process to produce rocket motors for the Patriot missile, an interceptor that's scarcer by the month as targets in Ukraine and the Middle East face continued bombardment. The U.S. tasked Lockheed Martin, maker of the Patriot's PAC-3 MSE variant, with more than tripling its annual output up to 2,000 missiles by 2030. Lockheed has relied so far on rocket-motor maker L3Harris to power them. "We have production capacity and we are starting to build even ahead" of a final contract, Northrop CEO Kathy Warden said during an earnings call. "Because we are a brand new supplier, we will start at a smaller scale and that will grow." (andrew.fitzgerald@wsj.com; @drewfitzgerald)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 21, 2026 11:15 ET (15:15 GMT)

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