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On May 21, Lockheed Martin opened the Building 47 site in Troy, Alabama, as part of a $9 billion strategy to expand ammunition production by 2030, after the United States burned through nearly 25% of its entire stock of THAAD interceptor missiles in just a few weeks of war with Iran.
Building 47 will gain 87,000 square feet of new production area, around 8,000 square meters.
This is almost double the current production area of Lockheed’s complex in the state.
Of the total $9 billion planned for expansion, the company has already invested more than $1 billion.
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The framework agreement with the American Department of War aims to quadruple the annual production of THAAD, from the current 96 to 400 interceptors per year.
Each THAAD missile costs around $15 million in FY 2026.
This means the factory will deliver up to $6 billion in missiles per year when at full capacity.
Those who witnessed the stock disappearance in real-time understand the urgency.
The war between Iran, Israel, and American allies in the Gulf, which escalated late last year, consumed more THAAD in a few weeks than the United States had fired in three entire decades of the program.
About 150 THAAD interceptors were fired in real combat during the conflict, according to the British think tank Royal United Services Institute in a report published in March.
The number is equivalent to approximately a quarter of the stock that the United States maintained ready to defend allied bases in the Middle East.
It’s something around $2.25 billion in expensive missiles, burned in very little time.
Why the stock was the first victim of the war
The war began with Iran dispatching heavy salvos against American targets in the Persian Gulf and Israeli bases.
There were more than 550 ballistic and cruise missiles, in addition to 2,200 drones, according to consolidated data from the American Ministry of Defense in May.
The Israeli Iron Dome took care of most of the drones and short-range missiles.
But long-range ballistic missiles, similar to the Russian Sarmat ICBM, require the THAAD, which intercepts in the terminal high-altitude stage.
Each interception consumes one to two interceptors, depending on the safety margin the operator adopts.
The American stock ready for use melted quickly.
The alert came from RUSI, in London, with a short diagnosis: replacement takes years, not months.
The THAAD production line depends on critical minerals, specific electronic systems, flight tests on Wake Island, and complex software validation.
It’s not like replenishing rifle ammunition.
What Brazil has (and what it lacks)
Brazil entered the Iran-Israel war only as a spectator, and that was to be expected.
The country maintains the weakest air defense shield among the G20 economies.
The official Brazilian air defense system relies heavily on anti-aircraft guns with decades of operation and air-to-air missiles installed on Gripen and F-5M fighters.
The most modern in operation is the MAA-1B Piranha, a short-range air-to-air missile from Mectron.
The A-Darter, developed in partnership with South African Denel, has been ready for over a decade, but the Brazilian Air Force has yet to finalize the production batch.
The ASTROS II MK6 from Avibras, with a 300 km range MTC-300 cruise missile, is the only Brazilian platform with strategic range and is still in the validation phase.
The Brazilian anti-ballistic shield itself does not exist.
There is no interceptor, no early warning radar, no integrated system against long-range ballistic missiles.
The country relies on external cooperation in any hypothetical scenario involving ballistic missile interception.
The American industry has entered remilitarization mode
Building 47 is a piece of a much larger puzzle.
Lockheed Martin has already announced more than 20 expansions in factories across the United States, all aimed at accelerating strategic ammunition production.
The Pentagon has set the number: it wants to quadruple THAAD production by 2030.
The new unit in Alabama will also house the Next Generation Interceptor program, which will replace part of the current ballistic shield in the 2030s.
Michael Duffey, Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment, classified the partnership as “critical to accelerating ammunition capacity.”
Jim Taiclet, CEO of Lockheed Martin, was direct in the announcement: “We are ready now to meet the urgent demand.”
The Troy plant will increase Lockheed’s employment base in Alabama, which already exceeds 4,000 employees.
I confess that the size of the budget and what it reveals about how Western arsenals are on the brink of readiness collapse is alarming.
It’s no exaggeration to say that the Iran-Israel war became an industrial stress test of the global missile shield.
Brazil remains outside this game, but the international environment’s bill will arrive through other means: more expensive technology, more difficult partnerships, deeper dependence on foreign suppliers.
And you, should Brazil start building its own missile shield now or continue relying solely on external cooperation? Share your thoughts.
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