AUGUST 9, 2026 09:31
Updated:AUGUST 9, 2026 13:01
The Pentagon told US defense industry leaders to prepare plans to escalate production and delivery of weapons as reports of munitions shortages escalate, The Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing a Defense Department memo.
Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg wrote that the leaders had no more than 21 days to present plans to “drive significantly faster, more aggressive delivery schedules and/or increased production for critical capabilities,” on Wednesday, according to the memo.
“Years-long development cycles are not acceptable. We must dramatically accelerate our program schedules and expand our production capacity now.”
Reports have emerged in recent weeks that the US had used up much of its stockpile of highly accurate long-range missiles.
The missiles are principally the Army’s surface-to-surface weapons, known as Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) and Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM). The US has used “virtually all” of these weapons, according to two
Additional reports emerged of a clash between US President Donald Trump and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the alleged shortage, with Trump unaware of the extent of the diminished stockpile.
Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger told Reuters on Friday that replenishing the diminished US military arsenals would take some time.
“That won’t happen in two years. It will take much longer,” Papperger said.
Rheinmetall signed a memorandum of understanding with Lockheed last month to jointly produce Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, at Rheinmetall’s Unterluess plant in northern Germany. Production facilities are due to be set up next year.
The White House strongly disputed reports of both shortages and the conflict.
“The US has massive amounts of ‘munitions'” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Thursday.
White House officials said Trump had not directed his anger at Hegseth. In a separate Truth Social post on Thursday, the president said he was “extremely happy with the job that Pete Hegseth is doing.”
“He has never blamed Pete. This is all about the leakers,” one official told CNN.
CNN also previously reported that Trump was well aware of any potential shortages but was frustrated that the information became public while the US wants to be able to negotiate from a place of strength.
The memo comes after the White House has attempted to enlist the defense industry to unlock military funding through extensive lobbying, The Washington Post wrote.
Defense contractors were summoned to the White House to meet with Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, and White House Legislative Affairs Director James Braid in July, and were encouraged to use direct lobbying to increase defense spending, The Washington Post cited people familiar with the event as saying.
The Defense Department has announced several framework agreements with defense contractors and emerging startups to increase its supply of low-cost munitions, sophisticated air defense weapons, and patriot missiles. However, the arrangements are nonbinding contracts that rely on congressional funding to become final, The Washington Post wrote.
“They are agreements to agree, and so they’re not contracts. Almost nothing has been contracted, and that’s the problem.” Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the think-tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) told The Washington Post.
Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed the veracity of the Feinberg memo, saying it “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.”
“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,” Parnell said in a statement.
