The US Defense Department is demanding that defense contractors dramatically accelerate the production and delivery of weapons, including munitions in critically short supply because of the war with Iran, according to a Washington Post report based on an internal Pentagon memo.
In the memo, Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg gave defense industry leaders no more than 21 days to submit plans for speeding up delivery schedules and increasing production. "Years-long development cycles are not acceptable," Feinberg wrote in the letter sent Wednesday. "We must dramatically accelerate our program schedules and expand our production capacity now."
Reuters reported Tuesday that the US Army had used virtually all of its stockpile of long-range precision weapons, principally Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) and Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM). Stocks of Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors and Tomahawk cruise missiles have also been significantly depleted. Sources told Reuters that estimates by the Center for Strategic and International Studies broadly matched the military's internal figures.
Trump: "Far more than we need"
In a statement from US President Donald Trump provided by the White House to Reuters, the president rejected the report, saying the United States had "far more ammunition than anyone else in the world, and far more than we need. Our defense companies are making more ammunition right now than ever before, while expanding their factories and equipment at a record pace," the statement said.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed that the memo "is real," but portrayed it as part of an established process rather than an emergency response. "Working directly with industry leaders to accelerate production is not new. It has been the clear intent of the President and this Secretary from the start," Parnell said in a statement.
He said the memo "will inform the fiscal year 2028 budget submitted to Congress for funding, and it is entirely consistent with our ongoing push to rebuild the defense industrial base." In the memo, Feinberg identified several weapons programs as critical and "under consideration for acceleration or increased procurement" as part of the fiscal 2028 budget review.
They include the Next Generation Interceptor, designed to replace aging interceptors that protect US territory against intercontinental ballistic missiles; the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS); a mobile air-defense radar system; an Advanced Pilot Training System; and a satellite network for tracking missile launches. Feinberg added that the Defense Department was "fundamentally shifting how [it] develops, produces, and fields military capabilities to meet current and future challenges."
The memo was sent just days after The Washington Post revealed a confrontation between Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the same shortage. According to the report, on the sidelines of a Cabinet meeting at Camp David on July 31, the president demanded that Hegseth explain why he had apparently been misled and said he had believed the problem "had been fixed." Hegseth defended himself and blamed his deputy, Feinberg, both for the shortages and for failing to ensure that Trump was kept fully informed, according to the report.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the account as "100% fake news." Reports in recent weeks have indicated that shortages of munitions and interceptor missiles have played a role in the president's decision not to further escalate the war with Iran.
