Trump Presses Arms Makers to Boost Missile Production as U.S. Replenishes War Stocks
President Donald Trump met late Wednesday into Thursday at the White House with a group of ammunition and defense manufacturers as his administration pushes to expand weapons output after the war in Iran and other conflicts have reduced Pentagon stockpiles. A source cited by Reuters said the opening message to company executives was blunt: “You are not doing enough.” Officials later framed the talks as an effort to achieve “stability in wartime” and accelerate production.
The meeting was the White House’s second with top executives from major defense firms focused on ramping up output. A March session, attended by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, included executives and officials from BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, RTX, Boeing, Honeywell Aerospace and L3Harris Technologies.
On the same day, the Pentagon awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth up to $35 billion to increase production of THAAD interceptor missiles, part of a broader effort to rebuild missile defense inventories. Separately, the White House asked Congress for an $88 billion budget package, “mainly” to pay for the Iran war. White House budget chief Russ Vought wrote that more than $67 billion would go to the Pentagon, mostly for the war’s “operational costs” and replenishing ammunition stocks.
The administration is also pressing contractors to move faster while temporary production agreements signed earlier this year remain central to the effort. Those include a Lockheed deal to triple Patriot interceptor production and double THAAD output, plus multi-year agreements with RTX to expand Tomahawk cruise missile and AMRAAM air-to-air missile production. The agreements have been announced as “framework agreements” but have not yet become contracts.
Five defense industry executives told Reuters they welcomed the deals but said Congress must first approve funding before companies can invest more in components and production capacity. They warned that investing before government payments arrive could strain free cash flow and hurt profits in the second half of the year. Trump also signed an executive order in January aimed at identifying underperforming federal contractors while they continue paying dividends. The Senate Armed Services Committee this month approved its version of the National Defense Authorization Act, backing $1.15 trillion in total defense spending and giving multi-year procurement authority for several types of ammunition and weapons, though the bill is not expected to become law until autumn.
