Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth isn’t waiting for global threats to knock louder. Last week, he summoned top brass from Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and BAE Systems to a Pentagon powwow, demanding they crank up munitions production to counter depleted U.S. stockpiles and China’s growing shadow, as Just the News reports. His message was clear: the defense industrial base needs to wake up and deliver.
Hegseth convened this closed-door meeting to address the urgent need for more weapons, as U.S. stocks have dwindled from supporting Ukraine, defending Israel, and pounding Houthi targets in Yemen. The meeting followed his justification of U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites earlier in June, signaling a no-nonsense approach to national security. Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg joined, underscoring the administration’s focus on results.
“Our supply chain is definitely weak,” Feinberg admitted in February, blaming decades of government neglect and cozy corporate boardrooms. His candor exposes a truth the progressive elite often dodges: a hollowed-out industrial base can’t deter adversaries like China. Hegseth’s push for private-sector collaboration aims to fix this mess, fast.
The U.S. military’s munitions are running on fumes. Support for Ukraine since 2022, including $31.7 billion in stockpiled weapons, has burned through three Patriot batteries, 3,000 Stinger missiles, and millions of artillery rounds. Add to that the 15–20% of THAAD interceptors used to shield Israel from Iranian missiles in June 2025, and the picture gets grim.
Operation Rough Rider in Yemen didn’t help, expending hundreds of precision munitions to hit 800 Houthi targets by April 2025. “We are using them at an alarming rate,” Admiral James W. Kilby warned on June 24, a reality check for those dreaming of endless global policing. The Navy’s inventories are stretched thin, and restocking isn’t keeping pace.
Hegseth invoked World War II’s “Arsenal of Democracy,” pointing to Ford’s Willow Run plant, which churned out a B-24 bomber every 63 minutes. The Heritage Foundation notes that the era’s output—17 aircraft carriers, 300,000 planes, 50,000 tanks -- dwarfs today’s anemic production. Modern defense contractors, bloated and slow, can’t match that grit.
China’s navy, with over 400 warships, dwarfs the U.S.’s 296, and its shipbuilding capacity is 200 times larger. Taiwan, staring down a potential Chinese invasion, waits on what was pegged as a $21.54 billion U.S. weapons backlog as of April. If conflict erupts, the U.S. defense industrial base might not deliver in time.
“As President Trump has stated, our policy is peace through strength,” Hegseth declared in June, rejecting the left’s appeasement fantasies. His call to revive the defense industrial base aligns with Trump’s April executive order to streamline procurement and spark innovation. The woke crowd might scoff, but strength deters wars.
Meanwhile, Russia’s war machine hums, replacing 3,000 tanks and 13,000 artillery systems lost in Ukraine while planning 1,500 more tanks in 2025. Their 250,000 monthly artillery shells triple U.S. and European stockpiles combined. Hegseth’s urgency reflects a stark reality: adversaries aren’t slowing down.
Some progress is visible. Lockheed Martin delivered the eighth THAAD battery this month, boosting U.S. missile defense, with Dawn Golightly calling it a “game-changing asset.” Yet, her corporate cheerleading sidesteps the broader issue: one battery won’t close the gap against near-peer threats.
Raytheon secured a $1.1 billion Navy contract to produce 2,500 AIM-9X Block II missiles annually, a step forward Barbara Borgonovi hailed as “historic.” But when Sen. Mitch McConnell noted on June 24 that “our industry is not producing them fast enough,” he wasn’t wrong. Bureaucratic inertia still chokes the pipeline.
BAE Systems partnered with the Army’s DEVCOM-AC to upgrade the M109-52 Howitzer, with Dan Furber promising a “significant leap” in capability. Sounds great, but the U.S. produces only 135 tanks yearly and no new Bradley vehicles. World War II’s industrial might feels like a distant memory.
Admiral Samuel Paparo warned in February that “our magazines run low,” with maintenance backlogs plaguing every service branch. His blunt assessment cuts through the Pentagon’s usual spin, exposing a military stretched thin by global commitments. Hegseth’s meeting was a wake-up call to reverse this slide.
“DoD must increase critical munitions stockpiles,” Steven Morani urged in June, highlighting production capacity too small for rising demand. The left’s obsession with social engineering in the military ignores this nuts-and-bolts crisis. Hegseth’s focus on lethality over ideology is a refreshing shift.
The Pentagon’s challenge is steep, but not impossible. Trump’s executive order and Hegseth’s pressure on contractors signal a return to prioritizing national security over woke distractions. If the defense industry can channel even a fraction of Willow Run’s spirit, America might just stay ahead of its foes.
