The US Navy says it awarded RTX Unit Raytheon a $22.9 billion contract to boost the production of Tomahawk cruise missiles, Reuters reports.

The US has supplied large amounts of arms to allies while also using munitions in the Iran conflict, raising concerns about inventories of air defence and precision-guided weapons.

“By working closely with industry to expand the capacity of our munitions industrial base, the Department is utilising every available tool to meet the demands of current operations,” Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao says in a statement.

He has not given details about how much Tomahawk production would increase or the length of the contract.