Pentagon gives arms firms 21 days to ramp up production amid severe missile shortages

Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg wrote to industry leaders saying they had no more than 21 days to submit plans to “drive significantly faster, more aggressive delivery schedules and/or increased production for critical capabilities.”

Feinberg wrote that years-long development cycles are currently unacceptable, calling on the U.S. defense industry to dramatically accelerate program schedules and expand production capacity. 

“Address how we will collaborate as partners and demonstrate your willingness to put skin in the game,” he wrote in the memo.

Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell said that the memo “is real,” stating that cooperation between the government and 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, adding that the memo will inform the fiscal year 2028 budget submitted to Congress for funding.

WP, citing three sources familiar with the matter, reported that legacy defense contractors and Silicon Valley weapons start-ups met with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other government officials in the White House in late July. Firms such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Boeing were asked to directly lobby lawmakers to increase defense spending through congressional reconciliation, the sources stated.

Demands to accelerate weapons deliveries intensified as the U.S. missile arsenal faced deep depletion due to the conflict with Iran. In the first month of the Iran war alone, the U.S. fired off more than 850 Tomahawk cruise missiles and more than 1,000 Patriot and THAAD interceptors. The U.S. also used more than 1,300 of the Army’s tactical ballistic missiles.

As of last week, the global inventory of Patriot missiles has fallen from 2,200 before the war to fewer than 827, and THAAD missiles from 452 to fewer than 278, according to an analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Reuters, citing three sources, reported on August 4 that the U.S. Army has used up much of its global stockpile of Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) and Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM). The White House and the Pentagon denied the report.

The Washington Post reported on August 5 that President Donald Trump confronted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, accusing him of misleading the White House about a critical missile shortage in the war with Iran. Citing two sources, the report noted that Trump demanded an immediate explanation from his Pentagon chief after Hegseth claimed that the problem had been “solved.”

Trump denied reports of a U.S. missile shortage and threatened to imprison media sources making such claims, asserting that the country has “massive amounts of ‘munitions,’ especially of certain types.”

Trump later admitted on August 7 that U.S. supplies of some types of munitions have grown tighter after several months of war with Iran.