President Trump invoked the Cold War-era Defense Production Act to boost production of critical munitions, citing supply chain bottlenecks and heavy usage in the Iran war. A June 11 memo gives Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authority to pursue voluntary agreements with private industry to address what Trump called “limited production capacity, fragile supply chains, long-lead dependencies, and related production bottlenecks.”
The memo, released Tuesday, finds that “conditions exist which may pose a direct threat to the national defense or its preparedness programs,” according to the text. It delegates authority to Hegseth to enter voluntary agreements with private industry to “help provide for the national defense.”
The move comes amid doubts that American weapons makers can meet increased demand after heavy U.S. munitions usage in the Iran war. The U.S. has fired more than 1,000 long-range Tomahawk missiles since the war began Feb. 28, as well as 1,500 to 2,000 critical air-defense missiles including Thaad, Patriot and Standard Missile interceptors, according to U.S. officials who declined to give exact figures. Replacing those stockpiles could take up to six years, officials told the Wall Street Journal.
A report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in April estimated that munitions expended in Iran represent roughly 27% of Tomahawk stockpiles, about 23% of Jassm missiles, a third of SM-6 missiles, nearly half of SM-3 missiles, more than half of Patriot interceptors and up to 80% of Thaad interceptors. “It’s going to be years before we can rebuild those inventories,” Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at CSIS who co-wrote the report, said at the time.
Trump last week summoned the CEOs of seven top munitions makers for a meeting at the White House with Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg, according to three people familiar with the internal discussions. The meeting was postponed because of developments in the Iran conflict, some of those people said.
Some administration officials said the high expenditure rates could complicate the Pentagon’s ability to defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion in the near term. The White House and Pentagon pushed back against reports of low munitions levels this spring. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt disputed one such article, saying “The entire premise of this story is false.”
Trump also used the Defense Production Act during his first term in early 2020 to speed production of Covid-19 test kits and medical equipment. More recently, the act has been used to expand critical minerals manufacturing.
The Pentagon has been pressing defense companies to accelerate munitions production since before the Iran war began. In January, it announced the first of several seven-year agreements with companies to significantly increase annual production of Patriot, Thaad, Standard Missiles and other weapons. Congress must approve the long-term deals and funding before the Pentagon can lock in the contracts. Lockheed Martin and RTX have agreed to make investments in weapons factories to handle expanded manufacturing. Lockheed Martin is in talks with General Motors about how the automaker could manufacture parts to help bolster munitions production.