The Pentagon is pressing defense contractors to ramp up weapons output and delivery timelines, responding to mounting concerns that U.S. munition reserves have been critically depleted since the outbreak of war with Iran.
In a memo sent Wednesday, Deputy Secretary of Defense Feinberg instructed defense firms to provide, within three weeks, proposals to “drive significantly faster, more aggressive delivery schedules and/or increased production for critical capabilities,” according to a statement from Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell.
Parnell framed the directive as part of a broader overhaul of the Pentagon’s acquisition system. “Deputy Secretary Feinberg is a generational leader in that effort, driving the hard work of fixing our broken, antiquated and immensely complex acquisitions system so we can actually produce the weapons our warfighters need at the pace the threat demands,” he said. “Working directly with industry leaders to accelerate production is not new. It has been the clear intent of the President and this Secretary from the start.”
The memo, first reported by The Washington Post, underscores the urgency of the situation. “Years-long development cycles are not acceptable,” Feinberg wrote. “We must dramatically accelerate our program schedules and expand our production capacity now.”
The push comes as the U.S. military has expended vast quantities of its premier offensive and defensive systems since the conflict with Iran began in late February. Nearly all Army tactical missile systems (ATACMS) and precision strike missiles (PrSM) have been used, constraining President Trump’s ability to authorize major combat operations against Iran. The depleted stockpiles are also undermining Washington’s leverage in diplomatic talks to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, as weapons shortages curb military options.
Ari Cicurel, associate director of foreign policy at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, said Tehran’s perception of U.S. reluctance to escalate gives it an advantage at the negotiating table. “Beijing draws the same lesson about how long Washington could sustain a fight over Taiwan,” he added.
Cicurel criticized the years of underinvestment that left U.S. arsenals too shallow before the war. “Years of procrastination across multiple administrations of both parties left U.S. magazines too shallow before the war,” he said, “and closing the gap now demands sustained multiyear appropriations and expanded production capacity.”
The Pentagon’s own estimates, cited by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, indicate that more than half of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors have been used, dropping from roughly 450 before the war to between 234 and 278 as of late July. This depletion has fueled Democratic scrutiny of Pentagon lapses in responding to Iranian drone attacks.
President Trump, however, has pushed back against reports of shortages, posting on Truth Social that the military has “massive amounts” of munitions and that “large amounts are being manufactured and shipped to the U.S. as needed.”
Parnell said Feinberg’s memo will “inform the fiscal year 2028 budget submitted to Congress for funding, and it is entirely consistent with our ongoing push to rebuild the defense industrial base.” He also noted that the fiscal year 2027 budget currently before Congress “could supercharge this effort today.”
The directive is part of a wider effort to rebuild America’s defense industrial base after the Iran confrontation exposed critical vulnerabilities in production capacity.
