The Trump administration is expected to meet with defense industry leaders Friday to pressure them to speed production of key munitions amid growing concern from lawmakers about shrinking U.S. missile and rocket stockpiles, sources told The Washington Times.
In a social media post Monday, President Trump said there was a “virtually unlimited supply” of U.S. munitions and that the military was prepared to fight “forever.” Now, the Trump administration plans to meet with major suppliers at the White House this week to discuss ramping up production, according to multiple defense industry sources and a source in Congress close to the issue.
The missile defense producers, specifically L3Harris, Lockheed Martin and RTX, the larger company over Raytheon, will meet with the administration on Friday.
“We have got to press these manufacturers to ramp up production,” Sen. Joni Ernst, Iowa Republican, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told The Washington Times’ “Threat Status” newsletter. “Ramp it up, but also find other ways to defend and attack. We need to be replenishing as we’re pushing all of them out.”
Republicans and Democrats alike who sit on the committee said rocket-based weapons are being used at an alarming rate, protecting against Iran’s missile barrages across the Persian Gulf region. Many of the U.S. weapons use parts that have lagged in production in recent years but have recently seen dramatic increases in infrastructure and manufacturing investments.
“A lot of the way we build many of our defense systems right now is almost pre-industrial. It’s like a bonsai tree. We have expert craftsmen building these things one at a time,” said Sen. Tim Sheehy, Montana Republican. “We need to look at industrialized production. Instead of just chemistry and a house of cards approach to our rocket fuel, we need to take a more industrialized approach.”
Mr. Sheehy said he had recently visited a facility in Texas that was attempting to start “3D printing solid rocket fuel.”
While the White House pressures defense suppliers to accelerate weapons production, many of the primary components for the solid rocket motors require more than simply increasing work hours.
The output capacity of the rocket supply chain in 2026 is on track to be nearly six times the current production for large solid rocket motors and at least triple that for smaller tactical solid rocket motors, but is still under pressure to backfill existing stock.
“One of the biggest concerns is how quickly we run out of certain munitions,” Sen. Mark Kelly, Arizona Democrat, told “Threat Status.” “We don’t have infinite magazine depth, and it’s already a concern that we’ve expended a bunch of munitions in Ukraine.”
Mr. Kelly stressed that he shared his concerns and questions with Elbridge Colby, the under secretary of defense for policy, during this week’s classified committee hearing discussing the National Defense Strategy.
Many of the assessments by lawmakers aren’t based on classified information, but information that is readily available to both the public and U.S. adversaries. Sen. Tim Kaine, Virginia Democrat, said he is worried about that production capacity.
“That’s not based on any classified information, that’s just based on headlines I’m reading,” Mr. Kaine said. “Our munition stocks are pretty depleted.”
The U.S.-Israeli campaign in Iran has already stressed the production system. Both the retaliatory strikes by Iran after the campaign began as well as the expenditures from the 12-Day War in 2025 between Israel and Iran reduced stocks of critical air defense munitions as well as precision strike munitions such as the Tomahawk cruise missile.
Manufacturers such as L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and RTX who have invested a combined total of more than $700 million in solid rocket motors in 2025 will now be asked to accelerate their timelines. But lawmakers are concerned that the investment may not yield a resupply fast enough.”I met with a lot of the defense contractors and just talked to them about upping production and I’ve talked to a lot of people in the administration and they’re doing the same thing,” said Sen. Rick Scott, Florida Republican. “We just have to keep pushing them to build faster and less expensively.”
