The CEOs of Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Honeywell arrived at the White House on Wednesday for a meeting with President Donald Trump, as the administration presses major defense contractors to ramp up weapons production amid concerns about U.S. missile and munitions stockpiles.
The meeting comes after U.S. military operations in Iran and amid ongoing peace talks with Tehran, giving the White House added urgency to replenish key weapons systems and reassure allies that the U.S. defense industrial base can keep pace with demand.
The production push is already translating.
On Wednesday, the Missile Defense Agency awarded Lockheed Martin a $35.3 billion sole-source contract to produce THAAD interceptors through June 2032, with $842.9 million obligated at award. The same notice also included a $398.7 million Raytheon award for Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles including sales to U.S. allies.
Also, the White House on Wednesday asked Congress for $87.6 billion in supplemental spending, primarily to pay for the Iran war. On Tuesday, the Senate adopted an Iran war powers resolution directing Trump to end U.S. hostilities with Tehran, a symbolic bipartisan rebuke that highlighted growing congressional scrutiny of the president’s military strategy and peace talks.
Trump earlier this month invoked the Defense Production Act to accelerate weapons production, citing systemic constraints in the munitions base, including limited production capacity, fragile supply chains and long lead times.
But scaling weapons production is usually measured in years, not months, complicating the Trump administration’s push for faster output.
The White House has also pushed contractors to prioritize existing Pentagon contracts, faster deliveries and American manufacturing capacity over shareholder payouts. And last week a key Senate committee approved a bill that would codify a January Trump executive order to require that defense contractors get Pentagon sign off to buy back shares or issue dividends. Defense contractors have opposed the mandate.
Wednesday’s meeting follows a March White House gathering with executives from major defense firms, including Lockheed Martin, RTX, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, Honeywell Aerospace and L3Harris.
The administration has been seeking to expand production of Patriot and THAAD interceptors, Tomahawk cruise missiles and AMRAAM air-to-air missiles, though industry executives have warned that major investments will require congressional funding.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte backed Trump’s push to increase weapons production, saying at the White House Wednesday that the U.S. has the industrial capacity to do it. He called the U.S. defense industrial base “one of the strongest in the world,” citing more than $50 billion in sales to Europe and Canada last year and a roughly $300 billion order book.
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