The Pentagon is giving defense contractors three weeks to submit plans for faster weapons production after the war with Iran drained U.S. missile stockpiles to a fraction of their prewar levels.
Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg sent a memo to defense industry leaders Wednesday demanding plans to “drive significantly faster, more aggressive delivery schedules and/or increased production for critical capabilities,” according to a copy of the memo. Companies have until the end of the month to respond.
“Years-long development cycles are not acceptable,” Feinberg wrote. “We must dramatically accelerate our program schedules and expand our production capacity now.”
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed the memo is real and said it reflects an ongoing push that predates the five-month conflict with Iran. “Working directly with industry leaders to accelerate production is not new,” Parnell said in a statement to The Hill. “It has been the clear intent of the President and this Secretary from the start.”
The demand follows a new analysis from the Center for Strategic and International Studies showing just how deep the shortages run. The number of Patriot interceptors fell from 2,330 before the war to 1,030 when an April ceasefire took hold. Since fighting resumed, that stockpile has dropped further, to an estimated 759 to 827, a decline of at least 65% from prewar levels.
THAAD interceptors tell a similar story. The arsenal fell from 452 before the war to between 232 and 262 at the start of the ceasefire. The Pentagon has since replenished some of that supply, bringing the total to between 234 and 278, but the stockpile remains at least 38% below where it started.
CSIS warned the shrunken inventories could force American forces and Middle East allies to take on more risk to conserve their remaining air defenses, including launching fewer interceptors against incoming Iranian drones and missiles, raising the odds that one gets through.
President Trump has pushed back on reports of a shortage. “The United States has massive amounts of everything, including Patriots,” he wrote on Truth Social last week, adding that “large amounts are being manufactured and shipped to the U.S. as needed.”
Parnell said Feinberg’s memo will help shape the fiscal year 2028 defense budget request to Congress. He added that the fiscal year 2027 budget, currently stalled on Capitol Hill, “could supercharge this effort today.”
