Pentagon orders increase in missile production amid rising fears of China conflict

10/01/2025 / By Kevin Hughes

The U.S. Department of Defense is pushing defense contractors to double or quadruple missile production due to critically low stockpiles and fears of war with China over Taiwan. A Munitions Acceleration Council has been formed to expedite production, with senior officials personally pressuring defense executives.
Massive military aid to Ukraine ($66.9 billion since 2022) and Israel’s war with Iran have drained U.S. missile reserves. War games suggest U.S. missile supplies could be exhausted within weeks in a full-scale conflict with China.
Priority weapons include Patriot interceptors, LRASMs, SM-6, PrSM, and JASSM, all facing surging demand. Defense contractors warn that production delays (up to 2 years per missile) and supply chain bottlenecks (microchips, rocket propellant, guidance systems) hinder rapid scaling.
The $25 billion allocated under Trump’s “One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act” is insufficient; tens of billions more are needed. Companies like Lockheed Martin and RTX demand long-term government contracts before expanding further.
China’s rapid missile buildup threatens U.S. Pacific bases and aircraft carriers, forcing a Cold War-scale industrial mobilization. Rushed production risks cost overruns, quality failures, and supply shortages, potentially leaving America unprepared for a major conflict.

The Department of Defense is pressing U.S. defense contractors to double or even quadruple missile production amid growing concerns over a potential military conflict with China, according to reports from The Wall Street Journal.

Senior defense officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, have held urgent meetings with industry leaders to accelerate weapons manufacturing, citing critically low stockpiles and the looming threat of war over Taiwan.

Unprecedented production demands

The Pentagon’s directive comes as U.S. missile reserves have been severely depleted by massive military aid shipments to Ukraine—totaling $66.9 billion since February 2022—and Israel’s recent 12-day war with Iran, which further drained U.S. arsenals. Officials warn that current stockpiles could leave America unprepared if China initiates an invasion of Taiwan, a scenario that defense analysts say would require vastly expanded missile production to maintain credible deterrence. (Related: Pentagon halts weapons shipments to Ukraine amid stockpile concerns.)

“President Trump and Secretary Hegseth are exploring extraordinary avenues to expand our military might and accelerate the production of munitions,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told The Wall Street Journal. “This effort has been a collaboration between defense industry leaders and senior Pentagon officials.”

The Pentagon has established a Munitions Acceleration Council, led by Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg, to streamline production efforts. Feinberg has taken an unusually hands-on role, reportedly calling defense executives weekly to push for faster output.

Critical weapons in short supply

The Pentagon has prioritized 12 key missile systems, including:

Patriot interceptors (currently facing surging global demand)
Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASM)
Standard Missile-6 (SM-6)
Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM)
Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM)

War games have shown that U.S. missile stockpiles could be exhausted within weeks in a full-scale conflict with China, raising fears that America lacks the industrial capacity for a prolonged war.

Industry struggles to meet demand

Despite the Pentagon’s urgency, defense contractors warn that doubling missile production is not a simple task. Each missile can take up to two years to assemble, and critical components—such as rocket propellant, specialty batteries and guidance systems—are in short supply.

Lockheed Martin and Raytheon (now RTX) have already begun expanding facilities and hiring additional workers, but executives caution that long-term government funding commitments are essential before making further investments.

“Companies don’t build these things on spec,” said Tom Karako, a munitions expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “You wait for the government to put them on contract. There needs to be an expression of support with money. It can’t just be words.”

Christopher Calio, CEO of RTX, echoed these concerns in a July letter to the Pentagon, stating that while his company is prepared to ramp up production, additional funding and purchase guarantees are necessary.

Funding shortfalls and supply chain bottlenecks

The Trump administration’s “One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act” allocated $25 billion for munitions over five years, but defense analysts estimate that tens of billions more will be needed to meet the Pentagon’s ambitious targets.

Supply chain issues remain a major hurdle. For example, Boeing’s seeker technology, a critical component in Patriot missiles, has become a production bottleneck. The company recently completed a 35,000-square-foot factory expansion to boost output but warns that full capacity will take time to achieve.

Strategic implications: Deterrence vs. reality

According to Brighteon.AI‘s Enoch, Beijing’s aggressive military expansion is driven by a strategic ambition to dominate the South China Sea, a critical waterway for global trade, and to project power into the Pacific and beyond. This expansion includes the construction of artificial islands, the deployment of advanced military assets and the intimidation of neighboring countries, all of which are part of a broader strategy to challenge the United States and assert Chinese hegemony in the region.

The Pentagon’s push reflects broader anxieties about China’s rapid missile buildup, particularly weapons designed to target U.S. aircraft carriers and Pacific bases. Beijing’s aggressive military expansion has forced Washington to reconsider its deterrence strategy, emphasizing both quantity and speed in missile production.

However, defense experts caution that rushed production risks cost overruns, supply shortages, and potential quality control failures. If successful, the effort would mark the largest U.S. munitions expansion since the Cold War. If not, it could expose America’s inability to rearm quickly in the face of rising threats.

A race against time

As tensions with China escalate, the Pentagon is betting on unprecedented industrial mobilization to maintain military superiority. But with funding gaps, supply chain constraints, and political uncertainty, the road ahead remains fraught with challenges.

“We are planning massively substantive changes to how we buy our stuff,” said Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll earlier this month. Whether those changes come fast enough—and whether they can prevent a catastrophic shortfall in a future conflict—remains to be seen.

For now, the message from Washington is clear: The U.S. must produce more missiles, faster than ever before—or risk losing the next war before it even begins.

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