President Donald Trump has called a meeting Friday with defense contractors to try to speed up weapons production as his war in Iran burns through U.S. missile stocks.
The president—who has ordered military strikes against more countries than any other U.S. president in modern history—claimed Monday in a Truth Social post that the U.S. has a “virtually unlimited supply” of munitions, and that “wars can be fought ‘forever,’ and very successfully, using just these supplies.”
But with no end in sight to the deadly attacks on Iran—which have in turn triggered retaliatory strikes throughout the Middle East, killing six U.S. soldiers to date—Pentagon officials told The Washington Post earlier this week the mood was “intense and paranoid” as the military ran through its stockpiles of U.S. air defense interceptor missiles.
Even before “Operation Epic Fury” began on Saturday, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine had warned the White House that weapons shortages and limited allied support would significantly increase risks to both the mission and U.S. troops, according to the Post.
Now, the administration has invited executives from Lockheed Martin, Raytheon’s parent company RTX, and other key suppliers to attend a meeting at the White House, Reuters reported.
Sources said officials were likely to press weapons makers to move faster to boost production.
The meeting comes as Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg is reportedly preparing a supplemental budget request of about $50 billion that would be used to replace weapons used in recent conflicts.
Lockheed, the Pentagon, and the White House did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment, while RTX declined to comment.
The Daily Beast has reached out as well.
In Iran, the military has deployed Tomahawk cruise missiles, F-35 stealth fighters, and low-cost one-way attack drones.
The U.S. has also drawn down billions of dollars’ worth of weapons stockpiles—including artillery systems, ammunition, and anti-tank missiles—in connection with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s attacks on Gaza, according to Reuters.
In his Truth Social post, Trump falsely claimed that former President Joe Biden had given “everything” away to Ukraine, even though the missiles used in Iran are longer-range than the ones that were provided to Kyiv.
His post hinted at shortages, saying, “At the highest end, we have a good supply, but are not where we want to be.”
In just the past year, Trump has ordered military strikes against eight countries: Iran, Nigeria, Venezuela, Iraq, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and, as of this week, Ecuador.
He has also blown up dozens of alleged drug-carrying boats, summarily killing hundreds of people, in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific.
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