Dynetics has been awarded a $617 million contract by the Army to produce its Indirect Fire Protection Capability Increment Two systems, the Department of Defense announced Wednesday.

The contract, valued at $617,164,135 will fund the purchase of launcher systems, retrofitting prototype launchers, buying all-up-round magazines, soldier trainers, weight representative training devices, contractor logistics services, initial spares, and engineering services.

According to reports, the hardware, training equipment, and sustainment support reflects a full-rate production posture rather than a limited developmental effort.

“The Army is not just buying hardware, it is buying the infrastructure needed to field and maintain the system at scale,” Defence Blog said.

IFPC Increment 2, a mobile ground-based interceptor system, is designed to provide 360-degree defense against cruise missiles and uncrewed aerial systems as part of the layered Army Integrated Air and Missile Defense architecture.

Russia’s use of Shahed-series loitering munitions and Iskander ballistic missiles against Ukrainian infrastructure has provided a real-world stress test for Western air defense concepts, repeatedly demonstrating that no single system is sufficient and that layered, overlapping coverage is the only reliable approach.

The Army has drawn direct lessons from that conflict, accelerating several air and missile defense programs as a result, according to Defence Blog.

“The system targets cruise missiles, unmanned aerial systems including drones of varying sizes, rockets, and certain categories of ballistic threats — precisely the mix of weapons that adversaries have demonstrated on battlefields from Ukraine to the Middle East,” Defence Blog said.

It fills a specific gap in Army air defense architecture: the short- to medium-range tier where threats are too fast and numerous for point-defense small arms but do not require the full capability and cost of a Patriot battery, according to Defence Blog.

The work is expected to be completed Nov. 30, 2029. The Army Contracting Command on Redstone Arsenal is the contracting activity, the DoD said in its announcement.