RTX Slow to Deliver Missiles to Defend US Carriers From China
- RTX has so far delivered half the missiles in 2019 contract
- Persistent pandemic-era supply chain problems seen as cause
RTX Corp. has fallen behind schedule delivering the Navy’s top air defense missile that’s meant to counter China’s “aircraft carrier killer” weapons, prompting a key House defense spending committee to block the Pentagon’s request for another $3.2 billion contract.
RTX has delivered about half of the 625 Standard Missile-6 missiles required under a five-year, $1 billion contract from 2019, according to the Defense Contract Management Agency. This year, the Pentagon wants to buy another 825 of the missiles in a five-year deal from RTX, which changed its name from Raytheon Technologies in 2023.