Trump presses defense executives to boost weapons production

By Jarrett Renshaw and Jacob Bogage

CARLISLE, Pennsylvania, ‌July 15 (Reuters) - President Donald ​Trump urged top ​defense executives on Wednesday to accelerate weapons production and expand manufacturing capacity as wars in Ukraine and the Middle East strain U.S. stockpiles and expose bottlenecks in the nation's industrial base.

Speaking at Pennsylvania Senator ‌Dave McCormick's Defense and Innovation Summit, Trump exhorted armsmakers, "We have the best quality in the world, ⁠but we need a little more speed."

Trump's appearance underscored a broader focus by the administration on defense production as prolonged conflicts have consumed large quantities ‌of missiles, interceptors and other weapons, while ‌highlighting the limits of the U.S. military supply chain and production capacity.

The event at the U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania gathered senior military leaders, defense contractors, investors and technology executives to discuss strengthening the U.S. industrial base and ​speeding the delivery of advanced weapons systems.

McCormick announced more than 30 investments and partnerships aimed at expanding the state’s defense industrial base, emerging technology sector and research workforce. The largest commitments included a $2.5 billion shipbuilding agreement between Rhoads Industries ⁠and General Dynamics' Electric Boat, $1.5 billion in Hanwha ship orders, and expansions in AI, robotics, space and advanced manufacturing.

BROADER INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY

For Trump, expanding defense manufacturing has become ​part of a wider economic strategy to revive U.S. industrial capacity, with the Pentagon increasingly viewed as a catalyst for factory investment, advanced manufacturing and domestic supply chains.

Earlier on Wednesday, the ​Defense Department launched the National Security Finance Fund, allowing officials to ‌provide monetary support and credit to firms that would address gaps in supplies of critical minerals vital to national security.

In late June, Trump met with munitions makers at the White House to ⁠urge the industry to move faster.

The United States has supplied large quantities of weapons to allies while also using munitions in its own military operations, raising concerns about inventories of key air-defense and precision-guided weapons and increasing pressure on contractors to boost output. Soaring demand for ⁠rocket motors used to power missiles and other weapons has spurred new thinking about supply chains.

Seeking big returns, Silicon Valley-style startups are now taking ​on defense companies that have long dominated the industry, pulled into the competition by a need for production speed, high volume and lower costs. Legacy solid rocket motor makers Northrop Grumman and L3Harris say they have been pushing their own research and development to pull in ‌new technologies like 3D printing and new mixing technologies.

Michael Duffey, who oversees buying for the Pentagon, told the summit audience on Tuesday that the department is using long-term procurement contracts to ‌give defense companies the confidence to invest billions of dollars in expanding factories, citing roughly $20 billion in private investment tied to plans ⁠to boost production of Patriot missiles and other high-demand ‌weapons.

"The global environment now demands that ​we produce at this scale, at this speed, at this volume," he said.

(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw in Carlisle, Pennsylvania; Additional reporting by Jacob Bogage and Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Colleen Jenkins ‌and Matthew Lewis)

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