The US military wants to develop new interceptor missiles that would be several times cheaper to use than Patriot missiles, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing US Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll.
According to reports, the cost of a PAC-3 missile for Patriot systems is up to $ 4.4 million. The US military expects the new interceptors to cost less than $ 250,000 each. “We want to see if we can build an interceptor from scratch, which is our intellectual property, and then find a contractor to manufacture it“, the publication quoted Driscoll as saying. The minister plans to officially launch the new project in the coming weeks, with a demonstration of the new technology to take place within a year.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the US military has used between 2,000 and 2,000 Patriot, THAAD and Standard Missile missiles during military operations against Iran.