Pentagon strikes two 7-year deals with defense giants to boost missile production

The U.S. Department of Defense on Monday announced two seven-year agreements with major defense firms L3Harris Technologies and Lockheed Martin to expand the production of key components for the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (PAC-3 MSE) and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile systems.

Under the new contracts, L3Harris will accelerate manufacturing of dual-pulse solid rocket motors, attitude control motors and lethality enhancement devices for PAC-3 MSE interceptors, according to the statement.

A separate three-way agreement covering THAAD interceptor propulsion systems, co-signed by the Defense Department, L3Harris and Lockheed Martin, will ramp up output of solid rocket booster motors and liquid divert and attitude control systems.

The Pentagon noted that it had previously established a series of framework agreements with Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Honeywell specifically for the Patriot missile program.

The production expansion drive comes amid fast-depleting U.S. munitions stockpiles as Washington escalates military operations against Iran, U.S. media reported, citing military and intelligence officials.

The report highlighted that the U.S. forces have expended large volumes of Patriot air defense missiles and THAAD interceptors to counter attacks from Iran, with consumption outpacing resupply.

Interceptor inventory has become the "most pressing" issue for U.S. authorities, and the Pentagon has already diverted interceptors from other regions to support its military deployments in the Middle East.

The urgency of the situation was underscored by a recent report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Released during the recent U.S.-Iran ceasefire, the study revealed that the U.S. forces had already expended over 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles and more than 1,100 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM).

According to the think tank, it will take nearly four years to replenish those specific stockpiles, while restoring THAAD and Patriot inventories could take up to five years.

Pentagon strikes two 7-year deals with defense giants to boost missile production

In the first half of this year, the vitality of business entities in China and the high-end development of the industrial structure have been further improved, delivering solid achievements in high-quality development, an official with the State Taxation Administration (STA) said on Tuesday.

Hu Jinglin, the STA commissioner, told a press conference that the number of tax-paying business entities has increased during the period. "Tax data showed that the vitality of business entities in China has further improved from January to June. The number of active tax-paying business entities that are operating normally in China rose 20.2 percent year on year and the number of tax declaration companies gained 10 percent year on year," said Hu.

Hu noted that high-tech and digital economy industries saw a surge in sales revenue during the same period.

"The high-end development of the industrial structure has been further advanced. The sales revenue of high-tech industries and core digital economy industries increased 15 percent and 8.7 percent year on year, respectively. And their share of the total enterprise sales revenue expanded 1.7 percentage points and 1.1 percentage points year on year, respectively. At the same time, the profits of high-tech manufacturing enterprises and digital product service enterprises surged 29.2 percent and 64.4 percent year on year, respectively," said the official.

China's foreign investment inflows and foreign trade exports continued to demonstrate strong resilience in the six months, Hu added.

"The stability of [China's] opening up to the world has been further enhanced. The number of foreign-funded tax-paying entities rose 10.9 percent year on year. The total profit declared by foreign-funded enterprises increased 4.5 percent year on year. The number of export tax rebates processed by the tax authorities for enterprises gained 7.7 percent year on year. These figures indicate that China's introduction of foreign investment and foreign trade exports continue to maintain strong resilience," he said.

China's business vitality further enhanced in H1