WASHINGTON – Concerns about the depletion of ammunition used to defend US 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 possibility of invoking the Defense Production Act to speed up munitions production while the United States conducts a war with Iran, known as Operation Epic Fury, these people said. Such a move would go beyond President Donald Trump’s public call for defense companies to make more weapons.
“We have unlimited medium and superior ammunition, which is really what we’re using in this war,” Trump told reporters Tuesday, although there is not an unlimited arsenal of ammunition. A White House official later said that “medium and high” referred to the range of the munitions. “I rebuilt the military,” Trump said, calling American munitions “a really powerful thing.”
Trump also said Tuesday in an interview with Politico that defense companies are “under emergency orders” and “are moving quickly to build the various things that we need.” The White House official said Trump was referring to his urging companies to act faster.
Discussions over the possible invocation of the Defense Production Act underscore growing concerns within the administration and in Congress about U.S. stockpiles in the midst of a war that Trump has said could take at least a month to achieve its goals and which he has suggested could drag on indefinitely. It is also highlighting the large volume of munitions that the United States is using to attack Iran and to defend against Iran’s retaliatory attacks throughout the Middle East.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that the military has everything it needs to achieve Trump’s goals in Iran.
“The United States military has more than enough ammunition, munitions, and weapons stockpiles to achieve the goals of Operation Epic Fury set forth by President Trump, and beyond,” Leavitt said. “However, President Trump has always been intensely focused on strengthening our Armed Forces and will continue to call on defense contractors to more quickly build American-made weapons, which are the best in the world.”
Chief Pentagon spokesman 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 demonstrated time and again after every major military operation under this administration,” Parnell said.
In recent weeks, before Trump ordered military action in Iran, which has raised concerns about U.S. munitions stockpiles, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine privately raised with him that U.S. air defense stocks were lower after having defended against Iranian retaliation during what is now known as the 12-Day War in June and that a sustained defense against Iran could now put the United States 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 president provides a range of military options, as well as secondary considerations and the associated impacts and risks, to civilian leaders who make America’s security decisions,” Joe Holstead, Cain’s spokesman, said in a statement. “The president offers these options confidentially.”
On Tuesday, the commander of US Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, said: “We are less than 100 hours into this operation and have already engaged 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 ammunition is 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 Trump himself has not discussed invoking the Defense Production Act, but he wants defense contractors to make munitions as quickly as possible.
The Defense Production Act would force defense companies to prioritize manufacturing the munitions the United States needs most. It has been invoked in recent years by presidents of both parties. Trump invoked it during the Covid-19 pandemic to speed up production of personal protective equipment and medical devices. President Joe Biden invoked it during a national shortage of baby formula and to make more solar panels.
US munitions stockpiles, the exact numbers of which are classified, have become a growing concern in recent years among officials of both political parties in Washington. Several factors have contributed to the concerns, including the war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year, and US support for Israel throughout the war in Gaza. US defensive weaponry was also used in June to defend Israel and US military assets in the region against Iranian attacks following US and Israeli attacks on Iran that were part of the 12-Day War.
Late last year, the Pentagon made a last-ditch effort to find tens of billions of dollars in additional funding for munitions, a concern that Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who oversees Defense Department funding, 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 does not require emergency munitions authorities. He said the United States has a significant amount of defensive munitions to protect against incoming Iranian missiles.
“And based on what I’ve been told in some of the briefings I’ve attended, I feel good about where we are,” Thune told NBC News. “And I also think our allies in the neighborhood are stepping up quite significantly, and many of them have assets of their own that can be used to take down and deflect many of the attacks that could come from Iranian arsenals.”
A U.S. official said there is recognition that it may take longer for the American public to endorse the notion of a wartime manufacturing policy. “The emotions that the United States needs to turn our factories into war factories, we simply don’t have,” this official said. “This takes time. We’ll have to figure out how to increase production in a way we haven’t.”
The 1950s law would help force munitions production not necessarily for war with Iran but to replenish stockpiles, said Mark Montgomery, a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based think tank. He said it could give the White House more flexibility to deepen its reserves if there is certainty that its reserves can build back up quickly.
“That would solve next year’s problem,” Montgomery said, adding that the United States has enough offensive munitions for a month or so, but that the concern is primarily about defensive missiles and interceptors.
As the next phase of the war against Iran unfolds in the coming days, the United States will begin to focus on eliminating Iran’s missile launchers and other military capabilities that could be used to retaliate against American and Israeli attacks. 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.”
The exact quantities of ammunition are classified, but many military analysts use public information to estimate the amount of ammunition the United States has in its arsenal.
Kelly Grieco, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center, another think tank in Washington, estimates that the United States has deployed about half of its interceptor missiles in the Middle East and that they could be depleted in about a month if used at a pace similar to that of the 12-Day War.
The issue is compounded by the fact that allies and partners are using many of the same missile defense systems, including in the Middle East.
“We now have many partners using Patriot systems,” Grieco said, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. “Those are all American systems, so the buildup of countries that will need resupply will be extraordinary and they will need it quickly.”
