As Iran war strains high-end munition stocks, Trump administration works to jump start production

Concerns that the U.S. military is running short on critical, high-end munitions are not new, and in fact, long predate the war in Iran. But, the second Trump administration has made it a top priority to jump-start the American industrial base to quickly plug the gaps. 

The foundations for boosting munitions production were laid last summer, shortly after the surprise U.S. bombing of suspected Iranian nuclear sites, when War Secretary Pete Hegseth convened America’s largest military contractors urging them to ramp up production of critical munitions.

During the war with Iran, President Donald Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with media reports highlighting the U.S. military’s dwindling supplies of the most expensive and capable munitions used for long-range strikes and missile defense. 

“The U.S. has massive amounts of ‘munitions,’ especially of certain types,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Thursday after recent media reports that the U.S. had used “virtually all” of its long-range precision missiles during Operation Epic Fury targeting Iran. 

The president, warning that “leakers” of this information would be severely punished, pointed to his administration’s efforts to boost manufacturing of these critical munitions. 

“Additionally, large amounts are being manufactured and shipped to the U.S. as needed. Defense companies are building the largest number of plants and factories in our country’s history,” Trump wrote.

The Pentagon says reports of munition shortages are “false” and that the U.S. military has enough material to accomplish President Trump’s goals. 

“Claims of U.S. munition shortages are false,” Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement to Just the News. “When the Fake News media irresponsibly amplifies these lies, the real-world consequence is clear: our enemies are emboldened to provoke – or attack – American troops. America’s military remains the most powerful fighting force on earth.” 

He also said: “We have everything required to strike at the time and place of the President’s choosing. Across multiple combatant commands, we have already executed successful operations while maintaining a deep, ready arsenal to defend our people and our interests. Any adversary who confuses media noise with American weakness will discover the truth the hard way.”

However, the administration raised concerns just last year over the capability of the U.S. Defense Industrial Base (DIB) to swiftly replenish U.S. military stocks that had been depleted in the air operations against the Houthis in Yemen, the United States' years-long effort to supply a massive number of weapons systems and armaments to Ukraine in its fight against Russian invaders, and the U.S.' assistance in the defense of Israel against Iranian missile barrages. 

Those concerns prompted Hegseth to convene the largest defense contractors in the United States last year, part of a White House-directed effort to restore the American industrial base. 

A senior Trump administration official, who declined to be named to describe a private discussion, told Just the News at the time that the main reason the meeting – which included well-known firms such as Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and BAE Systems – was to seek to hold munitions manufacturers accountable so that U.S. warfighters are equipped to face 21st century threats.

Hegseth told the defense company leaders that the U.S. faces unprecedented global threats and does not have years to wait for the munitions needed to deter or even fight U.S. adversaries, other sources who wished to remain anonymous told Just the News. 

Reportedly, Hegseth told them that he and the president wanted to resolve the issue swiftly.

The meeting came before the full-scale military operations against Iran, dubbed Operation Epic Fury, which Trump launched in February to end Tehran’s nuclear program, destroy its ballistic missile arsenal and sink its naval assets. 

An independent estimate by the Center for Strategic & International Studies shows that the stockpiles of seven “critical” munitions have dipped below likely sufficient levels needed to wage future wars and other contingencies. CSIS concluded, however, that the United States has enough munitions to continue to prosecute the current Iran war. 

“The diminished munitions stockpiles have created a near-term risk. A war against a capable peer competitor like China will consume munitions at greater rates than in this war. Prewar inventories were already insufficient; the levels today will constrain U.S. operations should a future conflict arise,” CSIS researchers wrote.   

Those seven critical munitions include two categories of high-end weapons, long-range ground attack and air-and-missile defense. Long-range ground attack weapons – such as the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, and the Precision Strike Missile – are used to target enemy positions at a “standoff distance” from enemy air defenses. Missile defense, like Standard Missiles, Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) are used to intercept ballistic missiles. 

Though U.S. munitions inventories are classified, CSIS used publicly available information, including Department of War budget documents, to estimate the number of missiles delivered by defense contractors. The organization estimated expenditures during Operation Epic Fury using the Pentagon’s own releases, publicly available reports and historical patterns.

The Pentagon’s efforts to jump-start increased production of the critical munitions appear to be bearing fruit. Last week, the department signed a framework agreement with two defense giants, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin to expand the production of missile-interceptor components.

The Pentagon says that these agreements will demonstrate “long-term demand signals flow to key suppliers” and allow the companies to expand “Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) production to triple and quadruple, respectively.” 

In April, the Trump administration requested an unprecedented $1.5 trillion budget for the Department of War that includes $350 billion earmarked for special administration priorities, including expanding the DIB and munitions production. A fact sheet released by the White House Office of Management and Budget that same month identified one of those priorities: to “rapidly procure 12 critical munitions.” The budget request also prioritizes funding for scaling production to create mass produced munitions.  

In addition to boosting funding for existing critical munitions, the Pentagon is also expanding partnerships with nontraditional enterprises that promise new and innovative technologies to replace or supplement existing weapons.    

For example, the Pentagon recently signed an agreement with Anduril, a relative newcomer to the defense contracting scene, for a new ground attack and anti-ship missile that can be mass-produced at a far lower cost than higher-end U.S. systems.

“Together, the Department of War and Anduril are establishing a new model for munitions procurement that emphasizes rapid, large-scale production of affordable munitions, forging a new path to expand America’s munitions inventories that is directly aligned with the Department’s focus on strengthening the United States’ Arsenal of Freedom,” Anduril said in a press release.  

The Pentagon also plans to partner with Ukrainian drone manufacturers who have innovated cheap, mass-produced drone technology under the pressure of war, Just the News previously reported. Several Ukrainian manufacturers plan to open factories in the United States in order to fulfill Pentagon orders for the drones. 

The Pentagon also invited six Ukrainian companies to the Gauntlet II test in Fort Carson, Colorado next month. Each of these Ukrainian companies either has signed or is planning joint ventures with U.S. manufacturers.