The Pentagon gives industry 21 days to speed up weapons production

The ongoing war against Iran is eating into United States military stockpiles. The Pentagon has asked the defence industry to speed up production and delivery of weapons sharply.

Military leaders’ concern is about the rest of the strategic picture. Moving equipment to the Middle East risks weakening American capabilities on other fronts, starting with those involving Russia and China. According to the New York Times, the Pentagon has already had to draw on stockpiles earmarked for other regions, in particular Europe and Asia, with effects on air defence missiles and long-range weapons systems.

The request to industry arrived on Wednesday through an internal memo seen by the Washington Post. Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg wrote to sector executives setting a deadline of no more than twenty-one days to present plans guaranteeing significantly faster delivery times, greater production capacity, or both. In the text Feinberg calls production cycles lasting years unacceptable and asks for capacity to be expanded immediately.

A public disagreement has also opened up. US media reported in recent days on tension between Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth over the shortage of weapons. The president played down the problem, saying American forces have substantial quantities of weapons and ammunition.

The knot, however, is budgetary. At the end of July the heads of the main defence contractors and of some Silicon Valley start-ups were summoned to Washington to meet the president’s chief of staff and other officials. What they were asked to do was lobby Congress directly for higher military spending. According to experts quoted in the American press, until new funding arrives the issue will remain unresolved: an industrial group does not enlarge its plants without orders secured over time.