WASHINGTON — Concerns over depleting munitions used to defend American forces in the Middle East may lead the Trump administration to force defense companies to produce more weaponry quickly, according to three people familiar with the discussions.
In private briefings with Congress, Trump administration officials have discussed the prospect of invoking the Defense Production Act to accelerate the production of munitions as the U.S. carries out a war with Iran, known as Operation Epic Fury, these people said. Such a move would go beyond President Donald Trump’s public urging that defense companies manufacture more weaponry.
“We have unlimited middle and upper ammunition, which is really what we’re using in this war,” Trump told reporters Tuesday, though there is no unlimited stockpile of munitions. A White House official later said “middle and upper” referred to the range of the munitions. “I rebuilt the military,” Trump said, calling the U.S. munitions “really powerful stuff.”
Trump also said Tuesday in an interview with Politico that defense companies are “under emergency orders” and “are on a rapid tear to build the various things we need.” The White House official said Trump was referring to his urging companies to move faster.
Discussions about potentially invoking the Defense Production Act underscore heightened concerns within the administration and in Congress about U.S. stockpiles amid a war that Trump has said could take at least a month to achieve his objectives and that he has suggested could stretch on indefinitely. It is also putting a spotlight on the sheer volume of munitions the U.S. is using to attack Iran — and to defend itself from Iran’s retaliatory attacks across the Middle East.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that the military has everything it needs to achieve Trump’s objectives in Iran.
“The U.S, military has more than enough munitions, ammo, and weapons stockpiles to achieve the goals of Operation Epic Fury laid out by President Trump — and beyond,” Leavitt said. “Nevertheless, President Trump has always been intensely focused on strengthen our Armed Forces and he will continue to call on defense contractors to more speedily build American-made weapons, which are the best in the world.”
Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement that the Defense Department “has everything it needs to execute any mission at the time and place of the president’s choosing and on any timeline.”
“President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have made restoring American military dominance their top priority from day one, and American dominance has been proved again and again following every major military operation under this administration,” Parnell said.
In recent weeks, before Trump ordered military action in Iran, which has escalated concerns about U.S. munitions stockpiles, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, privately raised with him that the U.S. stockpile of air defenses was lower after having defended against Iran’s retaliation during what is now known as the 12-Day War in June and that a sustained defense against Iran now could put the U.S. at risk, according to a U.S. official and a person familiar with the matter. Caine also raised the issue during congressional briefings this week, according to two of the people familiar with the discussions.
“In his role as military advisor to the president, secretary of war, and National Security Council, the chairman provides a range of military options, as well as secondary considerations and associated impacts and risks, to the civilian leaders who make America’s security decisions,” Joe Holstead, a spokesperson for Cain, said in a statement. “The Chairman provides these options confidentially.”
On Tuesday, the commander of U.S. Central Command, Adm. Brad Cooper, said, “We’re less than 100 hours into this operation, and we’ve already struck nearly 2,000 targets with more than 2,000 munitions.”
Administration officials told members of Congress in at least two briefings this week that more munitions are needed and that U.S. production has been slow, according to a U.S. official, a congressional official and one of the people familiar with the discussions.
A senior White House official said that Trump himself has not discussed invoking the Defense Production Act but that he wants defense contractors to manufacture munitions as quickly as possible.
The Defense Production Act would force defense companies to prioritize manufacturing the munitions the U.S. needs most. It has been invoked in recent years by presidents of both parties. Trump invoked it during the Covid-19 pandemic to speed the production of personal protective equipment and medical devices. President Joe Biden invoked it during a national shortage of baby formula and to manufacture more solar panels.
U.S. munitions stockpiles, the accurate numbers for which are classified, have in recent years become an increasing concern among officials in Washington of both political parties. A number of factors have contributed to the concerns, including the war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year, and U.S. support for Israel throughout the war in Gaza. American defensive weaponry also was used in June to defend Israel and U.S. military assets in the region against Iranian attacks following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran that were part of the 12-Day War.
Late last year, the Pentagon made a last-ditch push for tens of billions of dollars in additional funding for munitions, a concern Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who oversees funding for the Defense Department, had warned the administration about for months.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Tuesday that questions are being raised in Congress about military readiness but that “hopefully” the Pentagon will achieve its objectives in Iran in a time frame that won’t require emergency authorities on munitions. He said the U.S. has a significant number of defensive munitions to guard against incoming Iranian missiles.
“And based on what I’ve been told in some of the briefings I’ve been in, I feel good about where we are,” Thune told NBC News. “And I also think that our allies in the neighborhood are stepping up in a pretty significant way, too, and many of them have assets of their own that can be used to shoot down and deflect a lot of the incoming that might be that might be coming from the Iranian arsenals.”
A U.S. official said there is a recognition that it could take the American public more time to get behind the notion of a wartime manufacturing policy. “The emotions America needs to turn our factories into war factories, we’re just not there,” this official said. “This takes time. We’re going to have to figure out how to ramp up production in a way that we haven’t.”
The 1950s-era law would help force production of munitions not necessarily for the war with Iran but to replenish stockpiles, said Mark Montgomery, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based think tank. He said it could give the White House more flexibility to dig further into its reserves if there is certainty its stockpiles can quickly be built up again.
“That would solve next year’s problem,” Montgomery said, adding that the U.S. has plenty of offensive munitions to last another month or so but that the concern is largely about defensive missiles and interceptors.
As the next phase of the war against Iran unfolds in the coming days, the U.S. will begin to focus on taking out Iran’s missile launchers and other military capabilities that could be used to retaliate against U.S. and Israeli strikes. Doing so could reduce some of the need for American defensive weaponry.
“Think of it as shooting the archer instead of the arrows,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Monday. “That’s where we want to be.”
Accurate numbers of munitions are classified, but many military analysts use public information to estimate the number of munitions the U.S. has in its arsenal.
Kelly Grieco, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center, another think tank in Washington, estimates that the U.S. has deployed about half of its interceptor missiles to the Middle East and that it could run out in about a month if they are used at a rates similar to during the 12-Day War.
The issue is aggravated by the fact that allies and partners are using many of the same missile defense systems, including in the Middle East.
“We now have a lot of partners using Patriot systems,” Grieco said, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. “Those are all American systems, and so the backlog of countries that are going to need replenishment is going to be extraordinary, and they’ll need it quickly.”
