U.S. Army Awards $400M for THAAD Interceptor Boost Motors to Expand Missile Defense Readiness.

L3Harris Technologies has secured a nearly $400 million contract to produce additional boost motors and Liquid Divert and Attitude Control Systems for the Missile Defense Agency’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor. The award strengthens U.S. and allied missile defense readiness as operational deployments and rising ballistic missile threats drive interceptor replenishment.

L3Harris Technologies announced on February 16, 2026, that it has won a new contract valued at nearly $400 million to produce additional solid rocket boost motors and Liquid Divert and Attitude Control Systems (LDACS) for the Missile Defense Agency’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor, supplying the prime contractor as U.S. and allied demand for missile defense replenishment continues to accelerate. The award is not a headline-grabbing “new missile,” but it directly feeds the most unforgiving part of the THAAD kill chain: the propulsion that gets the interceptor to the engagement basket and the thrusters that make the final, centimeter-level correction for a hit-to-kill collision.
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L3Harris has secured a nearly $400 million contract to deliver THAAD interceptor boost motors and LDACS endgame thruster systems, strengthening U.S. missile defense capacity with faster, more agile hit-to-kill engagements against ballistic missile threats (Picture source: Missile Defense Agency).

THAAD’s interceptor is built around a simple operational premise that is technically brutal to execute: destroy a ballistic missile warhead by slamming a kinetic kill vehicle into it at closing speeds measured in kilometers per second. THAAD is also the only U.S. terminal system designed to intercept both inside and outside the atmosphere, which matters because an exo-atmospheric intercept can expand the defended footprint, reduce fallout risk over the protected area, and create a second engagement opportunity if the first shot misses. L3Harris’ new order focuses on the “muscle and reflexes” of that concept: the boost motor that provides the initial energy and the LDACS that keeps the kill vehicle precisely aligned in the endgame.

On the boost side, the solid rocket motor is more than a propulsion canister. It must deliver repeatable thrust, survive long-term storage, tolerate severe vibration and shock environments, and still ignite cleanly on demand in a combat posture. L3Harris produces THAAD boost motors in Huntsville, Alabama, and Camden, Arkansas, embedding the program in the same industrial corridor that is rapidly becoming the U.S. rocket motor surge-capacity backbone. That matters because solid motors have emerged as a pacing item across interceptors, tactical missiles, and hypersonic boosters, driving large capital investments to expand capacity and shorten lead times.

The more distinctive piece in this contract is the LDACS, manufactured in Los Angeles, which provides the last-stage control authority that a hit-to-kill interceptor lives or dies on. LDACS provides two kinds of propulsion: an attitude-control set that stabilizes the interceptor and a divert set that moves the kill vehicle onto the collision path. The system uses six thrusters to control roll, pitch, and yaw, stabilizing the seeker’s field of view so the kill vehicle can keep the target in sight, then uses four additional divert thrusters to deliver short, forceful pulses that rapidly reposition the kill vehicle for impact. The result is often described in the bluntest possible terms: like hitting a bullet with a bullet.

That architecture is operationally decisive because modern ballistic threats do not behave like idealized range targets. Reentry bodies can present confusing infrared signatures, fragments, or force late corrections through attitude changes, and the interceptor’s seeker must maintain a stable view long enough to discriminate and home. A high-response liquid divert system is the difference between a seeker that sees clean geometry and one that loses the target in the final seconds. The LDACS architecture is based on a hypergolic, bi-propellant design, a choice that prioritizes responsiveness and reliable restart behavior in the most time-compressed portion of flight.

At the unit level, THAAD’s tactical value comes from its battery construct and defended-area math. A standard THAAD battery includes six truck-mounted launchers carrying 48 interceptors, eight per launcher, supported by an AN/TPY-2 radar and a tactical fire control and communications element, typically manned by roughly 95 soldiers. The system is designed to counter short-, medium-, and limited intermediate-range ballistic missiles in the terminal phase, with reported engagement ranges in the 150 to 200 km class, placing it above Patriot in footprint and below strategic midcourse systems in mission set.

In practice, THAAD’s operational credibility is now tied to two parallel narratives: performance and integration. The weapon system has maintained a perfect flight test intercept record across 17 engagements and has demonstrated integration with PAC-3 MSE interceptors, firing and controlling PAC-3 MSE during a ballistic missile engagement. This underscores that THAAD is increasingly treated as part of a layered system of systems rather than a standalone battery. Industrially, the program has crossed key production milestones, including delivery of the 1,000th boost motor and 1,000th LDACS unit ahead of schedule, reflecting both maturity and sustained demand pressure.

The strategic “why now” is straightforward: the United States is consuming missile defense readiness in real time while preparing for larger and more complex salvos in the future. THAAD batteries maintain sustained overseas deployments, including enduring requirements in Guam and South Korea, alongside rotational presence in the Middle East. High operational tempos and real-world intercept operations have intensified concerns that inventories sized for peacetime test cadence are insufficient for protracted high-intensity conflict. As the Pentagon and prime contractors push to expand annual interceptor output, propulsion suppliers are no longer a supporting detail but a decisive constraint.

This is where the L3Harris award becomes a capability story rather than a procurement footnote. A THAAD interceptor’s lethality is inseparable from its propulsion reliability and endgame agility, and those are precisely the components being ordered in volume. By distributing boost motor production across multiple U.S. facilities while maintaining LDACS manufacturing in California, the supply chain gains resilience against disruption and accelerates throughput. For the U.S. Army, that translates into deeper reload capacity for deployed batteries and a faster path to regenerating combat power after surge operations. For allies operating or procuring THAAD, it signals that the U.S. industrial base is being recalibrated toward a wartime footing in which interceptors are treated as operationally consumed assets rather than limited peacetime stock.